A GRADE II-listed former pub could be turned into a community cafe, commercial unit and five flats.

The Kings Head in Blakeney High Street served pints for more than 200 years from the late 1700s, but hasn’t traded as a pub since around 2014.

Most recently, it has been an Italian restaurant, followed by a play centre and cafe.

A report on behalf of Gloucester applicants GST Property Developments Ltd to Forest Council planners, for planning permission and listed building consent, says: “The pub was once a thriving business and had just nine owners/landlords from 1851 to 2007.

“However, in recent decades the business has opened and closed on regular occasions. From nine owners in the previous 156 years the pub went through six businesses in 12 years.

“In 2008 it was reported in the press that the pub had closed because the rent demanded from the pub company was too high and the tenants could not make enough money.

“From the recent number of ownership changes and businesses it could be validly assumed that the premises is too large for trade to be sustained at sufficient levels, and that along with rent and rates, staff and running costs makes the building unviable in the modern day.”

Planners have been told: “The new owners of the building want to try and improve upon the chop and change of recent history and offer smaller more sustainable premises for local businesses.

“They also want to re-install the original mono pitch roof section on the Eastern side of the pub to bring back some of the original features.

“The pub has been extensively reviewed and all options have been exhausted in trying to find a balance between sustainable for the community yet commercially viable for the owners…

“At present the commercial unit is large and covers the entire first floor. The first and second floor are residential.

“To make a viable business from the building the owners are looking to create a number of smaller units and flats.

“The residential flats create a source of income that allows for less pressure on the commercial side of the business.

“The building would then not become vacant again should a commercial unit shut down. The proposal is to split the building into five residential flats and two commercial units on the ground floor.

“Commercial unit number 1 is planned by the owners to be a community café, which will be offered to the community to run and profit from the business.

“Commercial unit 2 would be ideal for a local business, library, play centre, nursery, etc, something that would otherwise be unavailable within the local community.”