Wetherspoon reveals £3.5m pub regardless of claims quaint city is ‘too posh’
Wetherspoon will open a new £3.5million pub in a quaint Buckinghamshire town despite opposition from locals who believe the area is ‘too posh’ for the chain.
Residents of picturesque Marlow fear ‘The Grand Assembly’ could attract unruly drinkers when it opens on September 24 on the site of a former M&Co clothing store.
One complained its proposed signage is ‘gross’ and will ‘disfigure’ the area, while another said the external appearance ‘looks more appropriate to Piccadilly Circus’.
But Wetherspoon insisted the pub will boost the area and create 70 new jobs as it completes renovation works that began in April and hires staff on £12.22 per hour.
The venue will also have a terraced courtyard beer garden at the rear, with the chain revealing it had worked with local charities to ‘provide nesting sites for swifts – a recently red-listed species – and bats, while promoting pollinating insects and bees’.
It comes after MailOnline spoke to local residents in February who feared the pub would ‘spoil the demographic’ of the town with some claiming it was not needed because Marlow already has Tom Kerridge‘s Michelin-star pub The Coach nearby.
But other locals welcomed the pub, with Beryl Simmonds saying: ‘I think the problem is that those from the posh side of Marlow do not want us in their part of town.’
Designs for The Grand Assembly in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, which opens on September 24
The pub will take over a site occupied by an M&Co clothing store until it shut in March 2023
The interior of the M&Co clothing store in Marlow which traded from 2006 until March 2023
Buckinghamshire Council granted planning permission for the pub in November 2022, but a recent application for illuminated signs prompted fury from some locals.
What locals and visitors think of Marlow getting a Wetherspoon pub
Jeremy Bettis, 67: ‘I don’t think there should be a Wetherspoons in the heart of the town. It will spoil the demographic and is going to attract… not the wrong people, just a different demographic.’
Rachel Platt, 27: ‘There are many gourmet places in Marlow, so that side of the market is very well served. There aren’t many people our age in the town anymore. Most of them have moved elsewhere. There are not many places for them to go in Marlow. This will provide some additional choice.’
Beryl Simmonds: ‘Wetherspoons are great when you have young children and grandchildren. You can bring them out to a place which offers great value for money. Otherwise we wouldn’t be able to bring them out. I think the problem is that those from the posh side of Marlow do not want us in their part of town.’
Darren Johnson, 58: ‘Why would you want to pay more than you had to for a pint? I might even have some food on a Friday, maybe some fish and chips or a curry. But there’s too much in the curry with the poppadum and the naan. It fills me up. A Wetherspoons would be a great thing for Marlow.’
Paul Ryan: ‘Marlow is already full of pubs, never mind another one. But there must be a good reason they want it.’
Cheryl Musselwhite, 67: ‘It all depends what is planned. Marlow, like Henley is very historic. It is a place where there are lots of tourists. It isn’t Slough.’
One neighbour, Michael New, said in response: ‘The proposed signage is gross. It would disfigure the whole of that part of West Street.
‘If permitted it would probably be followed by similar applications for other premises in West Street, Chapel Street, Spittal Street and the High Street.
‘Permission for this application would create the potential of completely destroying the character of Marlow.’
Another local unimpressed by the design was Geoff Wood, who said: ‘The extent and illumination of the proposed signage looks more appropriate to Piccadilly Circus than a central and important part of our conservation area.’
He added that the ‘proposal of illuminated 3D letters is particularly offensive and either breaches or comes close to breaching the council’s guidelines on lighting in conservation areas’.
Mr Wood said such an application being approved could risk ‘constituting a precedent for all other commercial outlets’ along town centre’s streets.
He continued: ‘Marlow’s centre is not huge or complicated. Users of facilities like this in the evening will have no trouble finding Wetherspoons without the bar’s signage glaring in the faces of others.’
The new pub at 3 Market Square is within the historic medieval core of Marlow’s conservation area.
But the site was actually erected between 1965 and 1972, after an earlier three-storey building possibly dating back to Georgian times was demolished.
The Wetherspoon venue takes its name from the ‘grand assemblies’ held in the 18th and 19th centuries at the former Market House adjacent to the site.
These gathering spaces for the upper classes hosted masquerade balls, public concerts and general assemblies.
In the late 18th century, local MP Thomas Williams offered to pay for the demolition of the existing Market House and erect a bigger building on the site.
This was opened in 1807 in an initiative seen through by his son Owen Williams after the politician died in 1802.
The assembly room continued to host major public events until the 1960s when the area was redeveloped.
The building that pre-dates the current site was a retail unit on the ground floor which is believed to have had a residence above – sitting adjacent to the Market House, which later became the Crown Hotel.
The Crown Hotel is thought to have once wrapped around the rear of 3 Market Square and may have occupied the upper floors of the site.
The new pub building was formerly the premises of Batting & Son’s Ironmongers from the 1820s.
Between the 1940s and early 1970s, it was occupied by a retailer called H & J W Aldridge – which also had premises on the Crown Hotel’s ground floor.
In addition, the hotel’s ground floor was occupied by FH Woolworth, more commonly known as Woolworths.
The site of the new Wetherspoon pub can be seen to the left of this undated photo, which is the earliest-known view of the area in Marlow. The building pictured on the left is thought to have been Georgian and was demolished before another site was erected between 1965 and 1972
A photograph from 1965 is the last-known image of the site now hosting the new pub, before it was demolished. At the time, the building was occupied by a retailer called H & J W Aldridge
This image from 1972 shows the rebuilt unit on the left, still being used by H & J W Aldridge
An Iceland supermarket occupied the site of the Wetherspoon pub in Marlow in the 1980s and 90s when the frontage was partly rebuilt and given its current double gable form
In the 1980s the store became an Iceland supermarket, and it was at this stage when the frontage was partly rebuilt and given its current double gable form.
The unit was then turned into a clothing store by M&Co in 2006. This shop then shut in April 2023 after the chain collapsed into administration, and it has been a vacant unit the past 16 months.
Wetherspoon was confirmed to have bought the site for £3.5million in March 2022.
Various names were proposed including The Brass Thimble and The Swan Hook – but the Grand Assembly was eventually decided upon.
The Watford-based pub chain said the interior design at its new venue had been inspired by traditional pubs, gin palaces and grand assembly halls of the Victorian era with a ‘modern industrial twist, amalgamating old and new design elements’.
The company also promised ‘links to the site history’ as the premises of Batting & Son’s Ironmongers.
And there are said to be ‘subtle nods to Frankenstein’, given author Mary Shelley lived in a cottage near the site while writing the gothic novel in 1817.
Wetherspoon added that design elements had also been inspired by the town’s connection to the River Thames, ‘notably the industry it brought to the area in the early establishment of the town as well as its rich rowing heritage’.
The pub will also display historical photos and details of local history, as well as artwork and images of local scenes and characters of the area – along with artwork commissioned by local artists.
Wetherspoon worked with local charities Wild Marlow and Bisham Nest Box Group on the nesting sites for swifts and bats, with tailored planting in the beer garden.
Grand Assembly manager Rachel Turner, who was previously an area manager for Wetherspoon, said today: ‘Myself and my team are looking forward to welcoming customers into The Grand Assembly.
‘We are confident that the pub will be a great addition to Marlow’s social scene.’
The pub will be open from 8am until midnight on Sunday to Thursday, with alcohol served until 11.30pm.
Locals are concerned the new Wetherspoon pub could bring unruly drinkers to Marlow
Wetherspoon bought the site of the M&Co shop in Marlow for £3.5billion in November 2022
The new pub is across the road from Tom Kerridge’s Michelin starred pub The Coach (right)
On Friday and Saturday, it will close an hour later at 1am, with alcohol served until 12.30am.
It will specialise in real ales and traditional ciders, while also serving craft and world beers, draught ales and bottled beers including those from local and regional brewers.
Food will be served from opening until 11pm daily, with children allowed in with an adult until 10pm.
The pub will also be wheelchair accessible and have an adapted toilet for people with disabilities.
Meanwhile Wetherspoon opened its new £2.8million pub at London Waterloo station yesterday, called The Lion & The Unicorn.
The venue is located in The Sidings within the former Eurostar terminus of the station, just a stone’s throw from BrewDog’s flagship bar.
