Former pub in Willenhall is set to be Hindu temple

A former pub in Willenhall will be given a new lease of life as a Hindu place of worship and community centre under proposals revealed today. The Long Acres pub would be used as a place for meditation and prayer.

In plans submitted to Wolverhampton City Council, the premises would also provide day-care for the elderly, education classes, employment training and leisure activities. The pub lost its licence and closed in 2010 after “many years of disruption and late night disturbance to the neighbourhood”.

The new facility which would be based at the former pub on Dilloways Lane, would be open to all for community activities such as yoga, dance classes and social clubs.

The applicant said that it was hoped weddings and funerals would also take place occasionally at the site, which is on land which borders Willenhall and Bilston.

Bilston North councillor Philip Page said the site had previously been vandalised and used as a car park for travellers.

He added: “I’m sure the community would want to see what the proposals are before they decide what they want to do.

“Whatever they are planning to have there has got to be better than it being vandalised.”

Two single-storey extensions to the building are proposed.

A design statement, submitted with the application, reads: “Hindu temples are mostly used as meeting places for meditation, prayer, watching priests perform dance rituals, religious discourses and devotional singing and chanting.

“The community uses are likely to include day-care for the elderly, education classes and employment training plus leisure activities dictated by the reasonable demands of the congregation and local residents and are anticipated to be of the usual yoga (invented by Hindus), dance class, bridge club and social type (with snacks and hot drinks on hand), facilities being made available free of charge in exchange for a reasonable donation.”