A plan to build new homes on the site of a former historic West Bromwich pub left empty for more than a decade looks to have finally progressed.

The former Rising Sun pub in Barton Street, West Bromwich, closed in the mid-2000s and was later demolished with the land sold by Sandwell Council in 2020 for £192,000 – nearly four times the guide price.

A planning application asking for permission to build two four-bed homes on the land was approved nearly two years ago 

The applicant Mr Grewal has now submitted a planning application to Sandwell Council asking to discharge the 12 conditions included in the permission from 2022 which once signed off by planners would allow for the majority of the work to start.

The empty 370 square metre plot has stood empty since the pub was demolished in 2012. The pub was described as “dilapidated” and “in poor structural condition” by the council when it proposed demolishing the historic watering hole. The former pub sits opposite West Bromwich Leisure Centre which was built in 2014. 

The area around the former West Bromwich town centre pub, particularly along Moor Street, has been the subject of major regeneration projects including the construction of the new leisure centre, the Lyng housing project, the refurbishment of the council-owned Bowater House and Braybrook House high rise blocks of flats, a new police station and a new health Centre.

The land was earmarked as a site for either four one-bed flats or two homes when an application was approved by Sandwell Council in 2020. A subsequent application for two four-bed homes was then put forward and approved in 2022.

The Rising Sun dates back to the early nineteenth century. The freehold land where the Rising Sun pub used to be located on Barton Street, West Bromwich, was sold on behalf of Sandwell Council for £192,000 – much higher than the £50,000 guide price.