‘Very special building’ to be converted into shop and HMO

An empty and boarded-up former pub will be converted into shops and flats under new plans.

The former Nag’s Head in Great Bridge, Tipton, closed in 2009 and will be transformed into new shops, flats and a house of multiple occupation (HMO) according to a planning application by Davinder Bhurji approved by Sandwell Council.

The plans include converting the former pub’s ground floor into two new retail units with the rest of the building turned into two flats and a five-bed HMO. 

The dilapidated pub, which has been left to rot since closing 16 years ago, has been the subject of several moves to bring the building back to life as well as other plans to demolish the former watering hole completely.

The application was granted by the council’s planning committee at a meeting on October 22.

Keith Hodgkins from Tipton Civic Society said there was strong evidence to suggest the building was designed by George Wenyon who also designed Dudley and Tipton libraries. 

“Two of the finest Edwardian buildings in the Black Country,” he told councillors at the meeting. 

“It’s a fine building, locally listed, and we think it ought to be statutory listed.”

Mr Hodgkins added despite its current state, it was a “very special building” for Great Bridge and Tipton as very few of George Wenyon’s designs had survived. 

“For that reason, this is a building that is really worth treasuring and making sure that it is developed in a good way.

“People probably don’t appreciate it because it’s been derelict for so long and it’s looking very sorry for itself but it’s quite a fine building with some very refined details.”

The first move to flatten the pub for nine new flats was put forward a decade ago but later withdrawn following objections and then an application to convert the building into two new shops and six flats was backed in 2014. 

The pub remained empty and continued to deteriorate when another plan to partly demolish the building and replace it with six new flats was given the green light by Sandwell Council in 2018. 

This work also never came to fruition and the pub, which dates back to the 1870s, remains an eyesore.

In the mid-1990s, the Nags Head was renamed The Fusilier in honour of Tipton-born Corporal Joseph Davies who was awarded the Victoria Cross for leading eight men to safety after they were left surrounded in an enemy counter-attack at Delville Wood during the Battle of the Somme in the First World War.

A blue plaque honoring Corporal Davies, who lived in nearby Nock Street, was placed on the Nags Head in the early 90s following a campaign by Tipton Civic Society and the town’s Royal British Legion branch – which the pub also served as a headquarters for. 

The plaque was removed following the closure of the Nags Head and now sits on the King Arms in Toll End Road. 

A memorial honouring Corporal Davies was unveiled in Tipton’s Victoria Park in 2016 – 100 years after he received the military honour from King George V for his heroics in France.

The pub reverted back to the Nags Head name in 2003 but closed in 2009.