PLANS are to be submitted to Dartmoor National Park Authority to turn a pub in Mary Tavy into living accommodation.

The Royal Standard at Blackdown was recently known as Café Scrumptious but after the lease owner left more than nine months ago, its doors have remained closed.

Building owner Mike Neenan said that the building was ‘slowly deteriorating’ and ‘does not reflect well on the village’ so decided to change the pub’s use to ‘residential’ and turn the site into homes.

The proposal is to remove the extensions at the front and back of the property and convert the original part of the building into two terraced houses.

It is also proposed to use the area that was previously the car park for the construction of an affordable, special needs house for a wheelchair-bound person.

Mr Neenan, who lives in Horrabridge, has owned the building since 2007 when he ran it as a pub until 2008, after which the site was leased out to new business ventures.

‘It’s been a long sad story of people who have run the place for a year or so and then found it’s not profitable or viable,’ he said.

‘We have been marketing it nationally since January but to no avail. Unfortunately, since we have owned it, nobody has been able to make it a going concern. The building is now deteriorating and does not reflect well on the village.

‘It costs money all the time — the only thing I can do is use it for housing and I am hoping to make it look nice for the village. From the village’s point of view it is better to have some housing on the site.

‘We have therefore decided to attempt to obtain permission to change it to residential use. The plan is to remove the front and rear extensions to the pub and build a bungalow for disabled use in the car park.

‘We would welcome any comments from neighbours.’

The application has been submitted to Dartmoor National Park Authority but will be registered and available on-line in around two weeks.

Mr Neenan announced his plans on social media. One person who responded to the post said: ‘We live almost opposite and it’s been a sad outlook having a redundant premises. We’ve long thought it would be better to turn it to residential, so good luck with your plans.’