Plans submitted to turn former Chesterfield B&B and coffee shop into new town centre flats

Stephenson’s Tea and Coffee House, which also incorporated a bed and breakfast, closed its doors in March 2021 during the third Covid lockdown.

Now, Sycamore Estates Ltd has applied for permission to turn the vacant premises – on the second floor of 9-15 Stephenson Place – into six new flats. The retail spaces on the ground floor will not be impacted by the redevelopment.

There are plans to build four flats and two bedsit studios. Three flats will be created on the first floor, where the coffee shop used to be. The rest of the units will be housed on the second floor, with the existing B&B rooms being converted.

There will be no changes to the seven existing residential units contained within the building.

The owners of Apartment Bar have commented on the application. They said that they have been operating for more than 30 years without any issues, and stressed the importance of making sure that any potential tenants are aware of their proximity to the late-night venue.

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Philip Riden, chairman of the Chesterfield Civic Society, said he supported the proposals to bring the empty site back into use – but had some concerns regarding the size of the units.

“The Civic Society committee has a general policy of supporting flat conversion schemes such as this one, since we believe that it is desirable to bring unused or under-used town centre property back into beneficial use, and for there to be more residential property in the town centre. On the other hand, we are becoming increasingly suspicious of schemes that involve creating very small flats with floor areas that must be close to, if not below, the statutory minimum.

“We can see two risks where this happens. One is that the flats prove impossible to let because they are of such poor quality; the other is that they are let (possibly through undesirable third-party landlords) to single people of very limited means, who are vulnerable to exploitation because of their desperate need to find somewhere to live, however unsuitable. Either of these eventualities could lead to anti-social and possibly criminal activity on the premises, and the deterioration of the fabric of the building concerned.

“We are not necessarily saying that this will happen if this scheme goes ahead, but we note that none of the flats proposed has a self-contained kitchen (merely some basic kitchen fittings in one corner of the living room, which would not appeal to all prospective tenants) and two of them are in fact single-room bedsitters.”

Mr Riden added that the civic society would prefer to see the two small bedsits combined to create one new flat.

“The demand for bedsitters these days must be very small, except in university towns where students will take them, and we would much prefer the number of flats to be reduced by using the rooms occupied by the two proposed bedsitters to create one flat with a separate living room and bedroom.

“We fail to see that this would make the scheme unviable from the landlord’s point of view, because a proper flat would presumably let for a much higher rent than a bedsitter.”

“We know from previous applications that it is very difficult for the Borough Council to reject flat conversion schemes of this sort, as long as they would not create units that are smaller than the statutory minimum floor area, and as long as the Fire and Rescue Service is satisfied that it would be possible safely to evacuate the building in the event of fire and to gain access to fight a fire. We do not have the expertise to make a judgment on either of these points but we consider them important. We hope both questions will be considered before planning permission is granted.”