Laminate flooring

[JanieB]

I went out to lunch yesterday in a 14th century coaching inn. I've been going in this hotel since I was 12 and have watched as different owners changed things. In general it has been to keep the integrity of the building whilst ensuring it meets modern standards.

The current owners have removed the old pews and oak tables and chairs to be replaced with modern ones which don't go with the style of the building. I just put that down to bad taste as it doesn't affect the building itself. But yesterday I was horrified to find that they have put laminate flooring down.

I've tried searching for the answer to my question but I haven't found it so I'm hoping someone here has the answer. Are they permitted to put laminate floors in an ancient building?

 

[Andys]

Leaving taste aside, if the historic fabric is untouched then laying a floating floor (without fixings) could be considered much like laying a carpet and almost as easy to remove again. Ventilation of the subfloor may be an issue. At the rate pubs and hotels seem to get refurbished by the big chains, the floor might be gone again in 5 years!

 

[JanieB]

Mmmh! Don't get me started on the big chains. Punch Taverns made another of our ancient inns look like a modern pub trying to look old and another was owned by an American chain who plastered all the walls and ceilings with artex because they thought it looked older than the original lime plaster.

 

[plasticpigeon]

An Edwardian arts and crafts pub near me had the back room done over in the "industrial chic" style, bare brick, exposed metal conduit, twee Cath Kidson drawings on the ceiling, polished mahogany painted battleship grey. A lot of effort to go to to ruin up a good room.

 

[skier-hughes]

If it's just an ancient pub, can't they just do whatever they like? If it's a listed ancient pub, they'll be a bit more restricted

 

[MatthewC]

If it's a 14th century pub, surely it should be listed? The whole process seems so random as I don't think my 19th C house is worthy of being listed (and it's in a Conservation Area anyway).

 

[JanieB]

It's Grade II listed and in a conservation area. The owner of an equally ancient hostelry nearby removed and burnt one of the original windows. The CO told him he had to replace the original window, which was impossible as it had been destroyed. It ended up as a stand-off for about 9 months until they could come to a compromise.

We nearly didn't have any Christmas Lights that year as the main anchor point from the power source is on that building and his scaffolding was in the way.

 

[mims&pip]

If it's a 14th century pub, surely it should be listed? The whole process seems so random as I don't think my 19th C house is worthy of being listed (and it's in a Conservation Area anyway).

Random is definitely the word :roll: Our last house (as seen in my house pics thread) in a Wiltshire village wasn't listed, despite being a very characterful Georgian ashlar stone thatch. Nor was the oldest house in our vilłage, belonging to our friends - a 15th century timber frame thatch of incredible character and original features. In fact the only two buildings that were listed were the village shop (Georgian with later additions, but of very little architectural merit except for a pair of cast iron pillars) and the thatched pub - which was completely destroyed by fire in the late 1980s/early 1990s and rebuilt with little of the original remaining except some stone work :shock:

Our new house (1853 with Arts & Crafts extension) is in a Conservation Area with an Article 4(2) direction and is classified as being of 'townscape merit' but isn't listed and in fact - despite there being plenty of wonderful period properties within the Conservation Area - the only ones that are listed are pretty nondescript small Victorian villas......very odd!

Janie, it does seem - from what I've observed both here on PPUK and on t'interweb in general, that owners of listed pubs, hotels etc are for some reason allowed to get away with murder when it comes to *renovating* :twisted:

Mims x

 

[skier-hughes]

Our 1530's house isn't listed

 

[JanieB]

S'all right. My house is 1790ish and isn't listed either. Nor is the house opposite that was originally an inn on the main road between London and Bristol. There is a proposal to include this part of our town in to the conservation area. This is a bit behind the times as most of the town already is and this part is actually older than most of the rest. I've put my planning application in before they change the rules, but only because I actually want to preserve the integrity of the building.

A friend who owns a house just round the corner within the conservation area took 10 years to get his application approved because the one brick skin corrugated iron roofed outhouse on the main road had been included with his Grade II listed house. The plans were for an extension in the same style as the main house. I have never understood why the planning dept thought that a tatty shed was preferable to a sympathetic extension to the original house.

 

[JanieB]

I've probably been very silly. I was in a meeting this evening and went into said pub for a glass of wine after. As I was leaving I took another look at the flooring and realised that it was on the same level as the rest on that floor so that could only happen if the oak floorboards had been removed. So I mentioned the new laminate flooring. The reply was that there was no laminate flooring. So I pointed it out and added that I hoped the original floor was underneath. I was told there was no sub floor.

What do I do now? These people are doing untold damage to an old pub/hotel. I couldn't give a monkeys about the furniture but I care very much about the building. I know the current owners are trying to "modernise" the place but what they are doing is illegal. I've tried talking to our CO in the past and he seems less than interested and it will be more than difficult at the moment as some idiot with a grudge burnt the council offices down.

 

[TheRoost]

Speak to the CO, even if he wasn't interested last time, he needs to be informed. Also get your local councillor involved, see if they can push the issue.