New life will finally be breathed into the site of a former Norwich pub, a decade after pints were pulled at the building for the last time.
The Shoemaker pub, in Earlham West Centre, closed in 2005 and was eventually demolished in 2012. It had became such a magnet for vandalism and fly-tipping that youngsters from nearby West Earlham Junior School wrote to the then Norwich South MP Simon Wright calling for action.
But the site will now be developed, after Norwich City Council today granted permission to Pulham Market-based Manorlake Properties to build 20 apartments with beds for 70 students on the site.
The developer was unanimously given the green light to build a mixture of three and four-storey buildings to house the students, with a view of catering for 'more mature students' at the University of East Anglia.
Judith Lubbock, Liberal Democrat councillor for Eaton, said: 'I think it is a really good use of the site. It's been derelict for many years and it's a shame it hasn't come forward earlier.
'With the idea that the UEA is going to grow by 20pc in the next few years, we need to see more use of derelict land and conversions to release the pressure on family houses in the area.'
The developer had said, in documents lodged with the council: 'The design reflects the scale and bulk of the existing neighbourhood buildings and will help to reflect the place of the estate as a desirable place to live.'
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