The George & Dragon pub is set to be replaced with a Greggs drive-thru (Picture: Maureen McLean/Shutterstock)
A woman says she’s being ‘forced out of her own home’ thanks to plans to build a Greggs drive-thru next door.
The plans in Southcote, Reading will see a strip of land next to a disused pub converted into another branch of the popular high street bakery.
Kathy Skinner says the drive-thru would extend as far as her boundary fence – and she reckons traffic levels, litter, and air and light pollution could destroy the ‘sanctuary’ of her home.
She now feels forced to contemplate selling her home, as she feels blindsided by the development.
She told MailOnline: ‘I am going to be writing to Greene King and Greggs. I want to ask them the simple question: Why do they think it’s acceptable to destroy someone’s sanctuary for the sake of profit?’
‘It’ll run within metres of my house. I get that I live on a busy road but the cars are not that close to my back garden.
‘As a result of this drive thru, there will be noise and pollution directly into my garden, and I am an avid gardener – I bought my house for the garden, it’s where I eat.
‘Essentially now I’m going to be sitting eating with car fumes coming over my fence.
‘I just think this is Greene King looking for an easy solution to developing some land they couldn’t sell.
‘It’s actually a beautiful building, it would be a shame to see that go.’
The plans are for the old George & Dragon pub to be bulldozed and replaced by an all-new building to house the Greggs bakery, surrounded by the drive-thru lane, a 33-space car park and outdoor furniture.
Kathy’s biggest gripe is with the way the application was handled, only finding out about the plans from her neighbour – having seen no notice on the pub itself – and delivering a prompt complaint.
Reading Borough Council say they delivered 204 letters about the plans to locals, receiving just five objections.
But Kathy claims six of her neighbours, who live close to the former pub, were also unaware of the development, adding ‘either their post room was having a bad day or Royal Mail was having a bad day’.
The council defended their position to approve the plans, saying they were a minor change to the site’s purpose, going from a pub open from 11am to 11pm to a drive-thru operating from 6am to 11pm.
Ms Skinner added: ‘What I really now object to is how they say it was a minor application. I want to say, “did you even look at this?”
‘I will be going back to them. I would like an answer as to how they think this isn’t going to have a significant impact on the immediate neighbours.
‘Lighting – once again – within metres of my boundary fence. They will say that modern technology can focus the light down but it’s still going to bring a significant amount of light pollution into my garden and my neighbours’ back bedrooms.’
A spokesperson for Greene King said: ‘The George & Dragon has been closed for almost four years and regrettably even once Covid-19 restrictions were lifted the pub was not economically viable to reopen.
‘We have opted to work with Greggs to bring the area back into use and create a number of local jobs.
‘We took our proposal to Reading Borough Council last year and were pleased to receive approval for the scheme in December.’
Reading Borough Council and Greggs have also been contacted for comment.
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