Plans for café and shop at Cookham Dean hotel draw resident objections

The owners of a hotel in Cookham Dean have submitted plans for a new café and small shop on site to attract more customers, but residents have lodged objections against the proposals.

The Inn On The Green is based near the Old Cricket Common within the village’s greenbelt and conservation area. The venue includes 10 bedrooms, a restaurant, a swimming pool and garden.

The hotel’s owners are looking to demolish an existing shed on the site and replace it with a new building where breakfast would be served to hotel guests and visitors.

The building would include a café, kitchen, small shop and storage area, which would ‘offer the potential for business growth’ according to the application documents.

If the plans are approved, the hotel’s restaurant will only be used in the evenings, with breakfast and lunch to be served in the new building.

However, at a Cookham Parish Council meeting on Tuesday, January 6, residents expressed their concerns about the potential increase in noise and footfall if the café is approved.

Resident Maggie Robinson told the meeting: “Probably because of [the inn’s] popularity, noise and parking are definitely a problem.

“If [the owners] sell [the inn] in a couple of years, what happens then? The bigger your venue, the more likely you are to attract a more commercial venue.”

Parish councillors suggested a condition could be added to the plans to restrict how the property could be changed in the future.

Another resident recognised that the new café and shop building would be beneficial for the inn.

But she said that for residents, ‘it’s all about addressing the right balance’.

“[The development] could open the floodgates; it effectively counts as a function room. There were a number of parties [at the inn] in the summer which caused the residents significant concern because of noise and parking,” she added. 

But during the meeting, Mark Christie, one of the hotel’s owners, said he would rather not do any large events and use the new shop-café as a way to get more customers instead.

Mr Christie said: “It’s better to have a slower, consistent trade than it is to do these bigger events that cause massive disruption.

“I think there is a demand for a shop in the village. This shop will stock everything that we sell in [the inn’s] kitchen. The reason we would like to [build the shop] is from a cash flow perspective.”

He added that events such as outdoor barbecues were organised during the summer at the inn to compensate for the winter months when business is not as profitable.

Parish councillor Jacqui Edwards (Cookham Rise) asked about the traffic impact this ‘extra stream’ of customers could have on the village.

Mr Christie said that ‘overall traffic’ would increase because the inn is looking to improve its morning trade.

But he added that the shop will not be used in the evenings when the hotel and existing restaurant would be open.

JSA Architects submitted a planning, design and access statement as part of the proposals and said the inn currently has 34 parking bays, including EV charging points, motorcycle and bike spaces.

Even with the proposed shop development, ‘parking standards’ would be met, the statement added.

The Royal Borough will make the final decision on whether the plans are approved or rejected.

To view the full plans for the application, insert 25/03252/FULL in the council’s planning portal at publicaccess.rbwm.gov.uk