Bid to turn Great Yarmouth pub into cafe and art gallery

Gillian Harwood, of London-based company Lewes Workspace Ltd, has applied to Great Yarmouth Borough Council to change the use of the ground floor of St John’s Head pub, on North Quay.

The Grade II listed building has been empty since last summer after the departure of its most recent landlords.

Ms Harwood, who runs a company which converts old buildings into business hubs, bought the pub in February 2020.

Gillian Harwood, who wants to convert the St John’s Head pub in Great Yarmouth into a cafe and art gallery, pictured in 2018. (Image: Archant)

She had the first floor converted into a holiday let before the ground floor was leased to entrepreneur John McKiernan who planned to reopen the pub after a light revamp.

Those plans fell through, however, after the country went into multiple lockdowns during the Covid pandemic and although Mr McKiernan opened the pub in October 2020, he found the business “unviable”.

John McKiernan, a former landlord at the St John’s Head in Great Yarmouth. (Image: Submitted)

The pub then remained closed until August 2023 when it was let to new landlords who also faced challenging trading conditions and left the business in summer last year.

A planning statement submitted with the application says: “Both tenants lost everything in their endeavors to run the pub on a viable basis.

“Running such a small pub in a less than suitable location with no passing trade is not a viable option.

“Lewes Workplace Ltd do not want to be party to seeing any more people face financial ruin.

“An alternative positive use for the ground floor therefore needs to be found,” they said.

The application indicates that management of the proposed cafe and art gallery could be taken on by a non-profit sommunity enterprise that occupies other nearby premises let by Lewes Workplace Ltd on Stonecutters Way.

A decision on the bid is expected by the end of April.