Developers' plan for changes at South Shields' landmark Riddicks building sparks warning

South Tyneside Council’s Planning Committee will discuss and vote on an application for the former Riddicks building on the corner of Fowler Street and Keppel Street.

The towering site has had several uses over the years, including as a grocer, chain store and snooker hall, as well as serving as the popular Riddicks shoe shop for many years.

However, the shoe shop sold its last pair in 2014, while Racks snooker hall upstairs also shut down, and permission was later granted for the building to be used as office space in 2019.

In recent years, the town centre site has been refurbished as part of council-led regeneration efforts and in October, 2023, the local authority’s cabinet of senior councillors agreed to progress the disposal of the building’s freehold, subject to planning permission being granted for a new use.

Plans from Premier Leisure Ltd, later approved by the council’s planning department in April, 2024, aimed to transform the majority of the building into a mixed public bar and restaurant, along with five residential flats on the second floor.

Original plans for the building’s first floor included a large gaming area with ‘feature booth’ seating, pool tables, ‘virtual darts’ and pinball machines.

Although the business Riddicks Sports Bar is now in operation at the site, the first floor is currently vacant, according to an ‘existing first floor plan’ submitted to council planning officers.

New plans from Premier Leisure submitted earlier this year (2025) sought permission to change the building’s first floor into four self-contained residential flats.

A design, access and heritage statement submitted with the plans said the proposals aimed to “omit the previously approved public bar and restaurant at first floor level and replace this with 4No. self-contained residential flats.”

Those behind the scheme added the “change of use responds to evolving town centre needs and demand for high-quality urban residential accommodation” and would “replicate the arrangement and layout of the already-approved second floor flats.”

South Tyneside Council’s planning department, in a report published ahead of a decision-making meeting next week, has recommended the plans for approval.

It was noted that “each apartment would house a double bed with a seating area and integrated kitchen” and that “each apartment would also have a bathroom”.

Council planners concluded that the development would be “acceptable in principle as it would bring the building fully back into use, whilst contributing to reducing the council’s housing land/supply delivery shortfall and enhancing the vitality and viability of the town centre”.

They added that the proposals would also “have an acceptable impact in terms of residential and visual amenity, highway safety and biodiversity”.

The council committee report adds: “The application of policies in the NPPF [National Planning Policy Framework] that protect areas or assets of particular importance do not provide a strong reason for refusing the development proposed and it is considered that there are no adverse impacts arising from the development that would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits of the proposal, when assessed against the policies in the NPPF taken as a whole.

“The proposed development would comply with all relevant local and national planning policy and the application is therefore recommended for approval.”

The council committee report also clarified that the proposal was not a house in multiple occupation[HMO] and that the residential accommodation “remains as self-contained apartments, albeit that a further four apartments are now proposed in addition to the five apartments previously approved.”

The planning application has been called into the Planning Committee for decision by Beacon and Bents ward councillor David Francis.

Comments from Cllr Francis, outlined in the committee report, said the application represented a “significant intensification of residential use” and would “raise many of the same concerns typically associated with HMOs”.

This includes “transient population, increased noise, waste and parking pressures and a shift in the character of the area from stable residential to short-term or high-turnover occupancy”.

Other concerns raised by Cllr Francis included “lack of detail in terms of providing adequate internal space and natural light for occupants, sound insulation between units, waste storage and collection and outdoor amenity space” and the application, if approved, “contributing to the cumulative over-intensification of residential use in this part of South Shields and setting a precedent for further conversions.”

Developers Premier Leisure have previously maintained the proposed residential use is “sympathetic to the character and evolution of the building”.

It was argued that the new plan for the landmark Riddicks building would “support its long-term viability and active use” and that internal building works to create new flats would be “handled with care to respect original proportions and avoid harm to any surviving historic features.”

South Tyneside Council’s Planning Committee will discuss the application at a meeting on December 15, 2025, at South Shields Town Hall.

The meeting is due to start at 10am and will be open to the public.

For more information on the planning application, visit South Tyneside Council’s planning portal website and search reference: 250401

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