Pound Street, Newbury

The proposed development site is approximately 0.55 hectares in size, bounded to the south by Pound Street, to the west by Rockingham Road, to the north by the railway line and to the east by No. 14 Pound Street.

Located a short distance from the town centre and the railway station, the site is brownfield land, with the majority of the site taken up with existing warehousing and hardstanding associated with the former Jewson’s yard, which closed in 2020.  In the south-western corner of the site are two semi-detached properties, Nos. 26 & 28 Pound Street, built in the 1930s, and behind those properties is the one-storey Newbury Bathrooms building.  The site has a long frontage along the northern side of Pound Street and a shorter one along the eastern side of Rockingham Road.

At present the site does not make a positive contribution to the local street scene, particularly along Pound Street where the former Jewson’s yard is marked by unattractive boundary fencing topped with barbed wire.  As a currently vacant site, the yard has also attracted anti-social behaviour such as fly-tipping and graffiti.

With the eastern part of Pound Street already home to some very attractive residential buildings forming part of the Newbury Town Centre Conservation Area, the opportunity exists to extend this pleasant residential environment right along the northern side of Pound Street, filling in the current gap in the built fabric with attractive residential buildings.

 

Below: The former Jewson’s site, looking north-east

 

Below: Nos. 26 & 28 Pound Street and the Newbury Bathrooms building, looking north-east

 

Below: The former Jewson’s yard, looking east

 

Below: The former Jewson’s yard and the rear of the Newbury Bathrooms building, looking north-west

 

Below: The former Jewson’s yard and the rear of No. 26 Pound Street, looking south-west