Major update on hotel plan for old Pallion Workingmen’s Club as building fights for survival

Sunderland City Council’s Planning and Highways Committee will discuss an application for the former Pallion Workingmen’s Club site off Waverley Terrace in the Pallion ward.

Back in 2017, the property was purchased by Woodvale Properties which aimed to restore the club and split it into four individual units and several businesses have occupied parts of the building since, from a gin bar and events centre to a dance school, and more recently, a restaurant and licensed events room.

Earlier this year (2025), the building’s owners applied to Sunderland City Council to convert the site into a “mixed use hotel with serviced accommodation” across the first and second floors and a “restaurant and offices on the ground floor.”

The application aimed to retain the restaurant and Vigeo Property offices on the ground floor and to convert the first and second floors to provide hotel accommodation with 20 beds.

Those behind the application said the accommodation would be “suitable for contractors to reside while working in the area” and noted it could benefit the planned Crown Works Studios development nearby.

A planning submission submitted on behalf of applicant Woodvale Properties added it would be “difficult” for the building to “survive” as an events building, given the “current economic situation, cost of living and [the building being] in one of the poorest wards in Sunderland”.

It was argued that “Sunderland’s short-term let market, particularly those catering to contractors and tourists, is poised for steady growth” and that “with the right strategic planning, the region can capitalise on this trend […] catering to both leisure and business travellers”.

Developers said the Pallion accommodation plans aimed to “encompass the need to accommodate people coming to work at the Crown Works and other developments with increasing revenue into the local Pallion retail offer through spending in the local shops”.

Plans aimed to “retain and refurbish” the former social club’s ground floor as a “licensed café” to serve both the people using the hotel accommodation and the general public, as well as utilising the space for the community through Vigeo (Sunderland) CIC by offering ‘warm space’ meeting sessions to “prevent isolation”.

Meanwhile, the building’s upper floors would be turned into “high-quality living accommodation” under the proposals with each room including a “bathroom with toilet, wardrobe space, small kitchen area with a microwave plus small fridge”, along with a shared lounge, kitchen area and laundry / drying area.

A management plan submitted with the proposals described the development as the “Woodvale House Hotel” and said the “target market” would be contractors linked to Crown Works Studios, riverside developments, Nissan and the International Advanced Manufacturing Park, as well as North East Screen.

The management plan added there would be policies around noise control, security and anti-social behaviour and servicing and deliveries, and that the hotel would “maintain an open line of communication with local residents or businesses regarding traffic and parking concerns.”

Although there was no vehicle parking on site, the development proposed six cycle spaces within a small area of land to the south of the site.

Sunderland City Council’s planning department, in a report published ahead of a decision-making meeting next week, has recommended the plans for refusal over “significant” parking, highway safety and amenity impacts on neighbouring properties.

Council planners, in a committee report, said the proposals would have a “negative impact on the residential amenity of neighbouring dwellings due to overlooking from upper floor hotel room windows”, particularly in relation to the garden areas and rear windows of several properties on Amethyst Street.

It was argued that as the proposal would “not respect the prevailing character of the neighbourhood, which is residential”, the application would be “unacceptable in principle”.

Council planners said that “concerns relating to parking and highway safety and the amenity of neighbouring properties are significant and are not considered to be outweighed by the minor positive aspects of the scheme, such as employment creation and securing the continued use of a prominent building”.

Council planning documents noted that the council’s highways department requested a revised plan providing details of parking to serve the mixed use hotel, however no dedicated car parking was provided in final plans.

The applicant previously said there was “suitable parking locally”, that the development would not “promote parking itself for vehicles as the Metro and building sites will be close by” and that workers using the hotel could “car share”.

However, the council’s highways department concluded the plans, as submitted, would “over intensify the use of the site and the lack of parking provision would have an adverse impact on the surrounding highway network, due to existing parking restrictions in place on the adjacent roads”.

There were concerns about the “potential for indiscriminate parking and conflict” due to lack of parking and “reliance of on street parking”, which council highways officers said would “be detrimental to the local residents”.

Council highways officers added “it is an onerous expectation that workers will generally drive with 3-4 people in their vehicles to any hotel location, therefore this would not be considered as an acceptable justification for a lack of parking provision at the hotel”.

It was also noted that Northumbria Police had “expressed concern [about] on street parking having the likelihood to increase tensions in the location leading to an increase in reported crimes and incidents which will increase the demand on the public services.”

The planning application was called into the Planning and Highways Committee for decision by Pallion ward councillor Martin Haswell due to what a council report described as a “significant amount of interest from neighbours.”

During a council public consultation exercise on the plans, there were four objections raising concerns ranging from noise and “poor access”, to lack of parking, overlooking, and concerns about the future occupants of the hotel.

Elsewhere, North East Screen, the region’s screen agency which supports screen industries including film and TV production, submitted a letter of support for the Pallion hotel development.

Councillors on the Planning and Highways Committee will vote on the Pallion development at a meeting on November 24, 2025, at City Hall.

The meeting is scheduled to start at 5.30pm in the council chamber and will be open to the public.

For more information on the plan, or to track its progress, visit Sunderland City Council’s planning portal website and search reference: 24/02127/FUL

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