Verdict in on controversial move to turn South Shields' boarded-up Marsden Inn into corner shop

South Tyneside Council’s planning department has approved an application for the Marsden Inn site, which sits on the corner of Redwell Lane and Marsden Lane near the coast.

The site is regularly the backdrop for photos and TV footage as thousands of runners go past it as part of the Great North Run.

Last year (2024), the pub announced it would be closing at the end of May to allow for “future development” and thanked customers for their support over the years.

The news came shortly after the pub and hotel had been put up for sale for £475,000 and at the time of the pub’s closure announcement, the business was no longer on the market.

Council planning documents note the vacant site currently “incorporates a restaurant and pub at ground floor level and associated residential accommodation at first floor comprising nine hotel rooms and flats.”

The site has since been partially boarded up and is now surrounded by fencing, with the former pub’s signature signage and decoration also removed.

New plans for the site submitted earlier this year (2025) aimed to demolish the building’s existing north west rear extension and to convert part of the former pub’s ground floor into a retail use.

The proposed development was described in planning documents as a “food retail unit”, “small supermarket” and a “convenience store” and proposed works included a “rear single storey extension, new retail entrance/additional doorways, widening of [the] west vehicle entrance and other external works.”

Submitted site plans showed parking provision for the proposed retail use, including cycle parking and disabled and family parking bays, along with a delivery area and electric vehicle parking spaces.

Floor plans also confirmed the retail unit application only applied to part of the pub’s ground floor, namely the part of the pub running adjacent to Marsden Lane.

The planning application submitted by Moorgate Property Ltd said development would include the “retention of residual ground floor” as a “public house / restaurant” and that there would be no change to first floor accommodation uses at the site.

During a council public consultation exercise on the plans, there were five objections raising a range of concerns about the development, from proposed hours of use, to increased activity at the site and noise pollution.

Other concerns included the risk of vandalism and antisocial behaviour, along with questions about the need for the shop use and calls for the building to be kept entirely in its current use.

The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) also lodged an objection over the proposed loss of a “community asset” as defined under national planning rules.

Campaigners said they would “expect the local authority to establish the unviability of the entire public house before any consideration is given for alternative use of any of the part(s).”

Councillor Phil Brown, independent representative for Horsley Hill ward, in comments included in a council report, said “while the new shopping development will be an asset for the local area, it is again paradoxically not an immediately accessible facility”.

Cllr Brown said some residents were concerned about light pollution from the site and noise from deliveries, and the councillor also noted highway safety concerns linked to the development “impinging on a steep coastal ramp [and] roundabout.”

After considering the planning application, South Tyneside Council’s planning department approved it on August 19, 2025.

Council planners, in a decision report, concluded the plans were “acceptable in principle in respect of the change of use proposed and would result in no significant harm to visual and residential amenity or highway safety”.

It was noted that an amended scheme from developers included the “widening of the existing vehicular exit onto the roundabout to accommodate exiting service vehicles” and council planners said the exit had “historically served the site and has been available for use unrestricted”.

It was also noted that concerns around “highway safety being compromised on Marsden Lane (B1301) had been identified, due to indiscriminately parked cars” and that measures would be be put in place to address this issue.

Council planners said it was “considered necessary to provide parking restrictions along Marsden Lane […] between the bus stops to the west extending eastward to the roundabout, as part of the development”, which would be secured via a legal traffic regulation order before the development could be brought into use.

On antisocial behaviour concerns, council planners noted both Northumbria Police and the council’s community safety team had been consulted on the application and had raised no objections.

Although it was acknowledged that the plans would “generate additional activity to the site”, council planners said this “would not be significantly different to the existing situation to warrant the refusal of the application on these grounds.”

The Marsden Inn is included on South Tyneside Council’s local list, which lists “buildings, structures and spaces that do not meet the criteria for national listing by Historic England but are still important to the people of South Tyneside.”

Although “being on the [local] list does not mean there are any extra planning controls for buildings, structures, or spaces”, the council’s website states, an asset’s “importance to the local area will be considered” before planning decisions are made.

The Marsden Inn is described as an “imposing building” which was “built between 1938 and 1939” and the local list notes its “confection of mock Tudor beams and pseudo-heraldry.”

A heritage statement submitted with the planning application said plans aimed to “convert the ground floor of the north western wing […] into a small supermarket”, and would “improve the baseline appearance of the building and bring the structure back into viable and worthwhile community use”.

Although the “interior of the pub has been stripped back to its skeleton”, it was noted that “ornate ceilings in the existing lounge and kitchen” would be “retained as part of the proposed development and protected by suspended ceilings”.

The heritage statement also confirmed that “the exterior of the pub, which is largely distinctive as an inter-war public house, will largely be retained”, with “only minor adjustments proposed, such as the installation of the new store entrance, to accommodate the new supermarket.”

South Tyneside Council’s conservation officer raised no objection to the application and according to the council decision report published this month, said it was “encouraging to see a proposal that retains the original building and brings parts of it back into viable use.”

Issues of noise and lighting at the shop site will be controlled by planning conditions, along with a condition in respect of “noise and disturbance from the construction phase.”

A retail sequential test submitted to council officials also said alternative units in the wider area had been explored for the development but did not offer “a reasonably available or sequentially preferable alternative site.”

Council planners confirmed that the “sequential test is satisfied in this instance and that there would be no significant harm to the vitality and viability of the borough’s defined centres subject to a condition restricting the range of goods that can be sold from the premises to primarily convenience goods only”.

The council decision report adds: “Furthermore, the proposal would result in the re-use of part of a currently vacant building and would provide social and economic benefits (such as additional jobs) to the immediate vicinity and wider borough.

“In this regard it should be noted that there have been complaints received by the council relating to the condition of the site and therefore bringing the site back into (partial) use would be beneficial to the local area.

“Concerns regarding the loss of a public house are noted. However, the application only relates to part of the building, with the remainder of the building (including restaurant and pub) being retained as existing.

“Furthermore, there are other public houses and catering establishments in the wider local area and the site is not included on the council’s register of assets of community value.”

The previous planning application for the site said the development would create three full-time jobs and eight part-time roles, and listed proposed opening hours for the retail store of 6am-11pm, seven days a week.

Council planning documents noted that “there is no intended operator identified” for the convenience store and that “this is not something required for a planning application.”

Under planning conditions, the retail development must be brought forward within three years.For more information on the planning application and council decision, visit South Tyneside Council’s planning portal website and search reference: 250237