Jenny Wren pub in Cambridge could return under development plans

The Jenny Wren pub could return under plans to redevelop the site in Cambridge, a city council meeting heard.

A three-storey building is planned to be built on the site in Campkin Road in King’s Hedges.

Nine flats are proposed as part of the plans, as well as a ground floor commercial unit, and a communal garden for the flats.

The ground floor space could become a new pub, although it could also be put to alternative use if no one is found to run it.

The Jenny Wren closed in 2017 and was demolished in 2019. Two previous planning applications for the site had been approved by Cambridge City Council in 2017 and 2018.

The latest proposals were described as being similar to the previous approval, with the main difference being the potential for the ground floor space to be used for something other than a pub.

A proposal for a manager’s flat linked to the pub was also removed from the application, with extra cycle parking spaces and electric vehicle charging points added.

Concerns were raised by councillors at the council’s planning committee this month that four of the proposed flats did not meet the minimum required space standards, and that one flat did not have a private balcony.

Cllr Jenny Gawthrope Wood said her late husband – former mayor Nigel Gawthrope – would be “turning in his grave” at the possibility of the loss of another pub in the area. Cllr Alex Collis said she also had concerns about the size of the flats being “significantly smaller” than what they would want them to be.

When it came to a vote, three councillors voted in favour of the plans, three against, and one councillor abstained.

The chair of the committee, Cllr Martin Smart then had the deciding vote, which he cast in favour of approval.

Councillors agreed to add conditions to the application for one of the flats to be designated as a manager’s flat linked to the pub, and that the pub would need to be marketed for a minimum of 12 months.