Former Auberge restaurant can change to residential use

The planning application to convert the former Auberge restaurant at Jerbourg was submitted last year by former Aurigny chairman Andrew Haining, who owns the property next door.

He argued the restaurant views were no longer considered exceptional when compared with other eateries.

That argument alone sparked public uproar, with 69 letter and e-mail objections sent to planning, raising concerns that the loss would impact the local tourism industry. There were also questions about whether the applicant had sufficiently checked the viability of the business before buying it.

Mr Haining has experience in the hospitality sector with a company operating pubs in the south of England, which briefly ran the Auberge.

Alvin Furrer, who spent 45 years working in hospitality, started a petition to stop the plans, raising more than 1,600 objections.

‘I’m surprised that it was approved,’ he said yesterday.

‘It’s a shame after six or seven decades as a nice little restaurant that it is going to be lost. I remember as a kid it was operating back then, and that was in the 60s. A lot of older people will miss it a lot.’

He believed there should have been an open planning meeting.

‘There should have been a meeting, but sadly, I’m not shocked that there wasn’t.’

The site is located near Jerbourg, outside of the St Martin’s local centre, meaning that under the Island Development Plan, planners did not resist when it came to the idea of closing the retail-purposed site.

Parishioner and former deputy Roy Bisson objected the plans, saying the venue offered fantastic locations for restaurant customers and that there was an abundance of parking available on the site. He was unhappy about the prospect of losing 'a unique tourism facility' because of the personal wishes of a new neighbour.

‘It’s not fair to say it’s a good restaurant and it should be kept on those grounds – it’s a uniquely-located restaurant,’ he said.

‘In this case it wasn’t a matter of heritage or anything else. We want our hospitality industry to retain some of its best facilities. If it’s taken over for other purposes than the hospitality industry, it will be lost.

‘If someone buys a restaurant and prices the rent beyond what is viable for a restaurateur then it is going to fall by the wayside, and that is what has happened here.’

Deputy Steve Falla said he objected to the plans for sentimental reasons.

‘I used to live in a granny wing just around the corner when it was still a pub back in the late 80s,’ he said.

‘I’ve got very fond memories of the neighbourhood and the area, then it became a spectacular restaurant and it was a lovely place to spend an evening.

'The owner must have realised when he purchased it that it was classed that way, so would have known it wasn’t a residential site. I’m disappointed to find it was able to change.’

St Martin’s parish constable Jeff Wilkes-Green said his gut feeling on the permission was that it was a great shame.

‘It’s the loss of a unique establishment to the people of Guernsey.

'It’s obvious what’s going to happen with the number of establishments that are in decline. A lot of people are going to be very upset.’