Plans submitted to demolish former Park Head Inn pub near Egremont

An application seeks permission to demolish a former public house near Egremont in order to build new office facilities on the site.

The land is currently occupied by the former Park Head Inn near the village of Thornhill, which closed its doors in May 2022 and has remained empty ever since.

The application was submitted by G&AM Lawson Ltd, a plant hire and haulage company based in Workington.

Estimated to have been built before 1774, the current building is a long, low, two-storey structure with roughcast walls and a slate roof, but is not listed.

G & AM Lawson Ltd plan to demolish the current building and build a modern, sustainable office space in its place. (Image: Coniston Consultants)

It is believed the building was originally constructed as a row of miners' or workers' cottages before being converted into a pub between 1861 and 1898 when it was officially listed as the Park Head Inn on an Ordnance Survey map.

Between c.1920 and 1960 the pub's landlord was Harry Christian, a recipient of the Victoria Cross - the highest British military honour - who saved the lives of three men at the Battle of Loos in 1915 during the First World War.

He was said to keep his medal behind the bar and has since been commemorated with a memorial stone in Pennington, Ulverston where he was born, as well as a wall plaque at Low Mill on the other side of Thornhill.

Christian's rescue of the three men at the Battle of Loos was also the subject of a 1981 Victor comic book story.

The applicants initially submitted plans in 2025 to renovate the building and convert it into an office space including a lift.

However, since then, they say that "the building has deteriorated in terms of its structural condition" and "the property is in need of total modernisation with significant structural works needed as part of this."

Following a survey of the site the applicants stated that the ground and first floors need replacing, the roof structure requires partial replacement and walls throughout the property are in need of "considerable strengthening works."

Their recent design and access statement concluded that "modernisation and/or conversion works will be cost prohibitive" and that "demolition and rebuilding is the most cost-effective approach".

G&AM Lawson Ltd propose to demolish the former pub and replace it with "a more sustainable, environmentally designed and constructed building."

The plan states that they intend to "prioritise on resource efficiency and provide "a healthy working environment for the wellbeing of the employees."

G&AM Lawson Ltd was established in 1974 and currently employ more than 100 staff.

The proposed office spaces would be used for company administration which the business hopes will enable closer connections with clients and stakeholders on existing contracts and increase contact with nearby Sellafield.

"The proposed scheme for building the new offices, would see substantial investment by a local company into this existing disused and decaying commercial facility, which will provide additional business opportunities to the site, with the associated benefits of inward investment and potentially new local employment opportunities, which will in turn strengthen the long term sustainability and operation of the business, its workforce and the area generally," the design and access statement concludes.