A Wetherspoon pub in St Ives which closed seemingly for good in October will now get a new lease of life.

A proposal to reopen the building has been approved by Cornwall Council’s planning department. The Hain Line was earmarked for sale by JD Wetherspoon at the end of 2023 as one of 32 pubs in its portfolio which would be put on the market. The pub chain said the closure a year on was a “commercial decision” brought on by higher food and energy costs.

The building is thought to have formed the Hain Shipping Office from the 1900s to 1930s and later became part of a hotel and then a nightclub with two flats from the late 1970s up until approximately 2012. The building was then bought by Wetherspoon and the two flats were converted to a staff room and commercial kitchen.

The Hain Line was put up for sale in 2023 and its new owner Mr D Potter, of Under Wild Design and Development, filed a planning application with Cornwall Council to retain a pub / restaurant on the ground floor – albeit not a Wetherspoon – and add six hotel rooms to the upper floors and seven residential units towards the rear of the building on the corner of Tregenna Terrace and Street-an-Pol.

That proposal has now been approved by Cornwall Council planners. The new owner said at the time of the application: “The proposal seeks to retain a vibrant active use for the ground floor, with well-designed and high-quality hotel rooms and much-needed residential units on the upper floors, intended as to provide temporary and permanent accommodation for both seasonal and year-round employees in the local area.

“From a heritage perspective, the site is located within the St Ives Conservation Area. The subject building is not itself listed or recorded as a non-designated heritage asset. However given its age and traditional appearance that has been altered very little at the front aspect, it is likely to be considered a valuable and noteworthy building within the St Ives Conservation Area.”

The residential units will be a combination of studio, one and two bedroom apartments.

The final day of trading as a Wetherspoon pub was on October 6, 2024. Staff were offered jobs at three other Wetherspoon pubs in Cornwall with a spokesperson saying about 80 per cent of employees accepted the offer.