The chair of Visit Hadleigh will be reopening his bed and breakfast in May, despite being granted permission to change its use back to a full residential property.

Stuart Service applied to Babergh District Council to change The Gables, which is in Hadleigh High Street, from its C1/C3 status as part B&B and part residential to C3 full residential. In documents available publicly, Mr Service blamed the pandemic as part of the reason he had applied for the change. (application can be found here...

Although Mr Service did not want to be quoted directly, he today confirmed to Nub News that he planned to reopen the Gables as a B&B on Monday May 17, as allowed by Government guidelines. Mr Service also runs holiday home Mullberry Cottage, which will also reopen and bookings have been taken.

Permission was granted in 2014 for the owners of the Grade II* listed Gables to be be used as a bed and breakfast, with four guest rooms, with prices varying between £95 - £145 a night depending on dates.

Babergh planning department confirmed Mr Service is perfectly entitled to continue using The Gables as B&B, even though a change of use has been granted.

A spokesman said: "If the permission granted hasn't been implemented and the applicant chooses not to do so, that is a lawful choice. The existing use and the permission to change use will sit side by side, at least until the C3-only permission is implemented."

In his role as Visit Hadleigh chairman, Mr Service recently expressed his disappointment at not getting the full grant from Hadleigh town council applied for and warned a visitor information centre may not open, full story here.