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A former Blackwood pub is set to be converted into a home after a planning application was approved by the council.

The now-closed Coal Hole Inn, next to Gelli Haf Cottages, will now be turned into a five-bedroom house with two ensuites, a shower room, and a separate bathroom.

Caerphilly County Borough Council’s planning department approved the plans on December 12.

Consultants, Peter Barnes Associates, applied on behalf of the pub’s former owner back in October. 

This comes after the first application for the conversion was rejected in February of this year. 

In its decision letter, the planning department stated the area would be losing a communal facility that would not be replaced.

It would also have a detrimental effect on the “character” of the area. 

Following this, the property was put on the market for sale as a commercial property.

But the pub, which stopped operating during the Covid lockdown in 2020, only received one offer – which then fell through. 

The applicant argued in his documentation that the lack of interest, and long-time vacancy showed that “the community facility is surplus to requirements.”