A HOTEL labelled as 'unsustainable' in Somerset could soon be converted into a new 'boutique guest house'.

Sherston House, on Priory Road in Wells, was formerly used as a pub and inn/hotel, but has been 'suffering' in recent years under previous owners Punch Taverns, according to a planning application.

The former pub benefits from C1 use for 'Hotels, boarding and guest houses where no significant element of care is provided' and has been run as a hotel with bar licence.

However, a planning application submitted on Wednesday, May 8, seeks permission to partially demolish and rebuild the hotel, as part of plans to bring it back beyond its former glory.

The premises will retain its five guest bedrooms throughout the proposed renovations, which include remodelling the existing residential flat for the owner, by making use of previously public space on the ground floor.

Although proposed internal alterations to the building are minor, the applicant hopes to demolish the existing 'tired and worn out' single storey extension to the south east of the main building.

In place of this, a new extension would be built, designed to be 'sympathetic' to the historic main building, and act as a 'new day room'.

An application submitted in 2021 hoped to build an extension to house an ancillary gym, pool, garden room and office space at the site.

The planning applications says: "This will be constructed of natural stone with timber doors and windows, a flat roof and glazed lantern.

"It will present as an orangery/conservatory in a traditional style and it is considered that it will improve the setting of the listed building by providing a connection between the grounds to the south and the main building.

"It will also provide screening for the courtyard between the main house and the existing outbuilding, therefore improving private space and enhancing the feeling of a range of buildings that are rooted in a single phase of development, with a single vision.

"The resultant layout will be far more coherent that the existing scattered approach to development."

For more information on the plans, search reference number 2024/0828/FUL on Somerset Council's online planning portal.

Public consultation on the plans is now open, and comments are welcomed until Tuesday, June 4.