A former Wells pub and bed and breakfast could be transformed into a new home and holiday let.

The Lifeboat Inn at Wells is seeking planning permission which would see the 11-bedroom Grade II listed property transformed into a single dwelling.

The site on Station Road closed for business in July 2020. The couple who were running the Inn since 2015, Carsten Lund and Susan Sands said on Facebook in May 2021 that the owners of the building decided to sell up.

The couple said: “The Lifeboat Inn, unfortunately, had to close. The owners of the building decided to sell. We were in the middle of a pandemic at the time so finding somewhere else was difficult.

“There will be no more live entertainment, quizzes, vinyl nights food or drinks served no B&B as it will no longer be a pub!

“What a great pity, we were very sad to leave! Thank you to everyone who supported us.”

Fakenham & Wells Times: Carsten Lund and Susan Sands who are selling the Lifeboat Inn in Wells-next-the-Sea.Carsten Lund and Susan Sands who are selling the Lifeboat Inn in Wells-next-the-Sea. (Image: Archant)

The access and heritage statement says “the building is vacant, its previous hotel/bed & breakfast use having ceased due to being no longer financially viable.”

The statement added: “The building is not fit for purpose as modern hotel accommodation - the rooms are too small and many have to share bathroom facilities. Improvement would lead to fewer lettable rooms and an even worse business case.”

The statement marks that the rapid growth of Airbnb in the town has resulted in a significant reduction in the demand for traditional bed and breakfast.

It appears this property will go the same way, with the statement saying the proposal would be used as a family holiday home by the applicants and would also be let to larger family groups on the Airbnb platform. Which they say would still meet the town’s tourism needs, but ‘under a more modern operating platform than the traditional bed and breakfast model.’

There are wholesale changes listed on the application, which includes an extension that they say respects the setting of the listed building, provides residential garden space and an outdoor pool all sensitively screened within a new walled garden.

The Inn was put up for sale earlier this year for £899,950.