The King is dead: Troubled Northampton neighbourhood pub will be converted to flats

A troubled Northampton pub that has opened and shut repeatedly over the last few years will now be converted into a block of flats.

The King David Pub, in Newnham Road, Kingsthorpe, shut down in September 2018 after the Magistrate's Court revoked its license in the face of allegations of an organised crime group operating on site.

Even this came just 10 months after the local was reopened in 2017 after extensive renovations and had been closed for years beforehand.

Now, any chance of the King David Pub ever reopening has been put to bed.

The borough council has greenlit a plan to convert the empty local into nine self-contained flats.

The pub's chequered past included an incident where a drive-by shooter fired a shotgun through the ground floor windows of the pub. A member of staff was also threatened with a knife and a man allegedly dangled a machete out of a window.

The pub's history was factored in nearly all the reports put to the borough council's planning board this week.

One report by Northamptonshire Police on how the renovations could affect the safety of nearby residents read: "The site is in a challenging part of Northampton."

Planning documents read: "The King David, despite repeated attempts to refurbish and modernise, has failed to generate sufficient income for its landlords and its owners, who following the loss of the pub's licence, placed the premises up for sale.

"There has been little or no interest shown by prospective purchasers considering reopening the premises as a public house."

Early plans had to be redrawn because the police were concerned an open set of stairs for the fire escape had the potential to be "a congregation point for local youths out of sight from the surrounding roads," and could even have been used to access neighbour's first-floor windows.

The new plans accepted by the borough council have been redrawn to address the police's security fears.

Construction is expected to begin later this year.

In total 16 car parking spaces will be provided including a minimum of two disabled spaces and each flat will have one car parking space.