PLANS to convert staff accommodation above the former Baron of Beef bar on Endless Street into two flats have been rejected on appeal.

Planning inspector Richard Jones refused the application due to potential sound from the vacant nightclub – should it reopen in future.

But a legal agreement had been struck between the owners of the former bus station, Churchill Retirement Living, and the vacant nightclub, that it would never be used as a late-night venue again.

This allowed planning permission for retirement flats at the bus station site to be approved.

But the deal only comes into force once building starts at the former bus station site, which meant technically planners had to consider the potential for the nightclub to reopen.

In a letter from Wiltshire Council to the inspector less than a month before the appeal was heard, officers said if work began “this authority would not fight the appeal”.

They suggested phoning the council “to ascertain whether work has commenced on the bus station development”.

Mr Jones said he understood the frustrations of the applicant but with a “secure planning mechanism” the use of the ground floor as a nightclub could “recommence at any time”.