Planning approval to convert old pub into three shops

Plans to convert a former pub into three shops and an office have been given the green light by Tameside Council.

The Owd Joss on Market Street in Hyde has been boarded up since serving its last pint in March 2024. 

The new shops will open between 7am-10pm from Monday to Saturday, and 9am-8pm on Sundays and Bank Holidays, despite Tameside Council’s (TMBC) Head of Environmental Services proposing that they only open between 8am-6pm from Monday to Saturday. 

TMBC’s Director of Place Julian Jackson, wrote in his report: “However regrettable the loss of the public house may be, the new uses that is proposed be introduced are appropriate in the town centre location and would secure a beneficial use for a building that is a long-established feature in the street scene.  

“Without leading to any undue loss of amenity in the surrounding area the proposal represents an efficient use of an existing building and would also encourage its future maintenance in a fairly prominent location.” 

Built in the 1830s, the pub was originally called the Cotton Tree, but wall known in recent years as Last Orders and the Beer Engine.

Work to convert the building must being within three years.