THERE are plans to breathe new life into a former Wellington pub which has been closed since January 2020.

The former Dolphin Inn in Waterloo Road called time at the bar after the pub saw a drop in trade and it became too much for landlady Anna Madams.

Just before it closed, she said that to run it was a “100-hours-a-week job” and that she needed to put her “family and financial future first.”

It was not long before a group called the Save the Dolphin Pub Group was set-up to look at how the property could be turned to community use, but that was rejected by the then district council and came to nothing.

But members of Wellington Town Council’s community committee heard on Monday (July 15) that there could be a new future on the horizon for The Dolphin.

Claire Alers-Hankey, of Greenslade Taylor Hunt, was at the meeting to discuss proposed uses for the old pub.

She explained that the owners of the premises, Jessica and Ashley Vellacott, of Sleeps 12, who were also at the meeting, were looking at turning the ground floor into a café with office accommodation on the first floor, while the former beer garden would be used for the building of two three-bedroom houses with access from Beech Grove.

It is understood that the downstairs part of the pub – known as the snug – would be incorporated into a flat over two floors.

The Mayor, Cllr Janet Lloyd, asked whether the beer garden area could be used as an extension for the café and include a smoking area.

Reference was made to a project being carried out at the former Kings Arms pub in High Street which is being turned into a building for community groups to use.

Cllr Mark Lithgow asked if the owners of the Dolphin Inn were aware of the Kings Arms initiative.

“We are looking for feedback from people,” said owner Mrs Vellacott. “There are a lot of people who live in that end of the town who just don’t want to go into the town centre.”

Councillors were told that it would be a commercial enterprise and run as a business – rather than solely as a community project.

But Mr and Mrs Vellacott want the new premises to become a key part of the town and they are looking at The Waffle in Axminster as something they want to replicate which is very much a social enterprise and community focussed.

Town clerk Dave Farrow added: “There is nothing down that end of the town for community use and it would be worthwhile having more conversations about that.”

And community committee chairman, Cllr Catherine Govier, added: “This is an exciting project and could fit in with what’s happening at the Kings Arms.”

The Waffle in Axminster is a café which also hosts a number of in-house projects and outreach schemes which bring local people together and helps to alleviate loneliness and isolation – something which could work well in Wellington.