10 Jul 2023
Anyone driving into St Albans city centre after taking Junction 22 off the M25 will probably proceed down London Road, using what should essentially be a showcase for the heritage and culture they will later experience.
Unfortunately this major route is littered with various derelict homes and rundown businesses which only serve to cast a pall over the entire road.
One of the biggest sites was caught up in legal wrangles for years, but might finally see improvements should the sale of the land go through successfully.
It includes the detached house at 270 London Road, which is a ruin, having not been lived in since around 2009, and 272, which is also vacant and derelict.
They once formed part of a larger estate belonging to Henry Gotto, a partner in high class stationers Parkins and Gotto of Oxford Street, who died in January 1892. When the trustees of his will came to sell his land in 1910, they sold it in rectangular parcels intended for the building of high-class residences, with covenants imposed in a number of conveyances restricting the use and density of any development.
This came to light when both of these properties, and neighbouring 274, were originally proposed for a private residential care home for 81 people.
The plan, by a Guernsey-based company called Signature Senior Lifestyle, attracted objections from both nearby residents and councillors – who feared London Road becoming a ghetto for the elderly with more and more care homes being built – but planning permission was eventually obtained in May 2016 following a public inquiry.
But Signature then faced problems relating to the previously mentioned 1910 covenants. The company took the case to the High Court in September 2017, arguing the restricted covenants were unenforceable, but the proceedings failed.
It then failed in an attempt to modify the covenants sufficiently to enable it to implement planning permission and build the proposed care home.
The land has recently been marketed by a London-based company called Daniel Watney Ltd, who said it is currently under offer and nearing exchange, which will hopefully mean some progress in restoring this massive site to a state better befitting its prestigious location.
Moving towards the city centre, adjacent to the railway bridge is a large patch of wasteland taped off with blue plastic netting. It appears to be used as nothing more than a dumping ground, but with just a little amount of work could be neatly redeveloped as a community green space.
Close to the prestigious Gabriel Square development, on the corner of Alma Road, are two abandoned business premises which are slowly falling into wrack and ruin.
The former Mumtaj Tandoori at 115 London Road was one of St Albans’ original and most highly-regarded Indian restaurants in its day, but closed for good three years before the pandemic devastated the city’s hospitality industry.
Chez Mumtaj owner Chad Rahman told the St Albans Times that the building was sold at the time to an independent third party and has new owners.
Now the windows are boarded up, the signage has been removed, paint is peeling and tiles have come loose, with the once proud restaurant building a shadow of its former self.
Meanwhile, 115A London Road, which was once office space occupied by Verulam Insurance Bureau, is in a similar state of disrepair. Faded circus posters have been flyposted over masked-out windows, there is overgrown vegetation on the path, and the shabby paintwork is in stark contrast to the beautiful avant garde cinema that is The Odyssey opposite.
Why have these building been left empty for so long? What are the current owners’ plans for the site? We discovered that planning permission was given for a change of use from restaurant to residential at 115, with plans for six one bedroom flats, back in April.
But an appeal has also been lodged after a failed bid to demolish 113 115 & 115A and replace them with a part three-storey, part four-storey and part five-storey building comprising of ten apartments including basement and roof terrace.
The former London Road Business Park, which was destroyed by fire in July 2022, now has planning permission for housing and is currently being cleared.
Further down the road towards the city centre are two more eyesores – boarded-up and dilapidated – presenting an unwelcome vista which blights the surrounding area. But contractors have been seen working on renovating 50 London Road, suggesting it could finally be marketed and reopened.
SADC leader Cllr Chris White responded to the latest developments: “London Road has made massive strides over the past several years with the replacement of a lot of derelict buildings or unused sites. But there is still a way to go.
“I’m glad to say that the former Mumtaj restaurant site has received planning permission. The area by the bridge damaged by fire may well become housing: while this will see an improvement in appearance there remains the worry about the loss of commercial land in this area, which current planning rules struggle to prevent.”
