Wetherspoon wants Magistrates' Court building

4:20pm Wednesday 13th March 2013 in News

POPULAR pub chain JD Wetherspoon has announced it is interested in turning the old Magistrates’ Court building in Grays into a pub.

Thurrock Council announced last month it plans to spend £2million turning the iconic building into offices, but the Gazette can exclusively reveal JD Wetherspoon is keen to move into the town and take over the neglected court builidng.

But the JDW group, which owns more than 800 pubs around the UK, said the council refused to discuss the possibility of the company acquiring the site. The firm first approached the council eight months ago, but heard nothing and is now calling on the authority to open talks.

Eddie Gershon, spokesman for JDW, said: “We as a company are extremely keen to move to the town and have a look at this building.

“Converting into office units would sadly preclude the historic building from being open to the public. A JD Wetherspoon would bring vitality to Grays and provide a significant number of new jobs.

“We would like to have a look at the building, but that hasn’t been facilitated by the council.”

A report put to the council’s cabinet last month claimed a number of options for the future use of the building had been explored, but converting it into offices was recommended as best and approved.

A council spokesman said: “The former court building is a prime site in the town. The council considered Wetherspoon’s pub option along with several others, as outlined to cabinet in February.

“After this consideration it was decided the best option to bring the whole building back into use was to invest in creating room for new start-up businesses.”

Conservative councillor for the Little Thurrock Blackshots ward Ben Maney said: “In principle I would be very sympathetic to the idea of JD Wetherspoon coming to Grays town centre.

“If we are going to attract people back to Grays we must have the shops, outlets and attractions which ordinary people want, not just betting shops and fast food takeaways.

“JD Wetherspoon is a reputable company which caters for all, including families.

“I think it would be a welcome addition to Grays town centre and could provide a quality outlet. The former Magistrates’ Court would be ideal.

“The council can talk about regeneration until it is blue in the face, but unless it gets big name businesses like Wetherspoon onside, any future plans will be just another useless exercise.

“I am very disappointed Thurrock Council is not at least talking to JD Wetherspoon.”

Comments(39)

Make Thurrock Better says...
4:33pm Wed 13 Mar 13

I think the council should look at this option seriously. Wetherspoons offer cheap food and drink and could develop the building into something for local people. This is missing in Grays town centre. There are few quality pubs or bars in the centre and it is dead in the evenings making it a haunt for undersirable people roaming the streets. We need to bring the town back to life and get people out and about in it in the evenings in particular to address this situation. Families and couples enjoying a reasonably priced meal with a bottle of wine instead of larger louts. How can you have this in Grays if there are no venues in the town centre?

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mpgrays says...
4:48pm Wed 13 Mar 13

Anyone who would like a preview of this pop along to the Barking Dog, outside Barking Station for a preview daytime, you wont like what you see! The Queens pub in Grays shuts at 9pm everynight because of all the scum, i cant see wetherspoons paying for doorstaff every night can you? As much as i like this new jobs for local people, what people? they will employ eastern europeans on minimum wages, covering long shifts! Also if they have a beer garden/smoking area wont this be over looking the Grays Plod Station car park, yep i'm sure they will have that!

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Thurrockbob says...
5:11pm Wed 13 Mar 13

**** good idea as one thing Grays is missing is a really good pub that sells good food, decent drink. All the pubs in Grays are full of scum and no-marks. Come on council do something decent!

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PoorFleet says...
5:14pm Wed 13 Mar 13

I'm all for this.

It's a way to develop a night time economy and take the high street back from the moronic types.

Where Wetherspoons go other businesses will follow...

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rocket1 says...
6:02pm Wed 13 Mar 13

i went to go in the queens and the doorman wanted to search me before i went in,i turned round and left.

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Marcus P says...
8:30pm Wed 13 Mar 13

I think this is a good idea. Grays has no real night time economy. This could boost the town centre. Somewhere where people could meet after work and have a decent drink at fair price. At the moment there is no incentive for any decent solvent adult to venture in Grays on a night time.

Why does the council need more offices?

Queens attracts undesirables, as it is not a very nice place.

The best options for Wetherspoons in Grays would be to take over the Oak in North Grays. This could be a real goldmine if it were managed correctly. I am sure the present people try their best but if I am honest Wetherspoons could vastly improve it.

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Thurrock Trojan says...
8:58pm Wed 13 Mar 13

Converting the building into offices would be a complete waste. At least a Wetherspoons would create jobs and be a welcome place for families.

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Make Thurrock Better says...
9:39pm Wed 13 Mar 13

I can understand some of the reservations on here especially as Grays is stuffed full of people drinking cheap alchohol out of tins in the street but don't we have to make a start somewhere? What is going to transform the town center if we don't take steps like this? Where are the social amenities to bring people to the town at night? Most people would rather go to the Boardwalk at Lakeside rather than somewhere in walking distance of their own front door. That can't be right.

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mpgrays says...
10:12pm Wed 13 Mar 13

MTB Grays is not stuffed full of people drinking in the street! TBC or who ever they would like to be, need to get a grip, that alcohol bullshi* ban didnt work from day 1 anyway, there are probably 5 alkies who like to hang around the TC!

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mytownisfinished says...
3:07am Thu 14 Mar 13

Great turn the old courthouse into a pub, so we can take our families into the town of a night and eat and have a nice stroll up the high street we wouldnt get mugged or stabbed. oh and why not then turn the police station into affordable flats and our police can be based from basildon and look after us from a helicopter. then build some flats on daneholes roundabout and open up a few more takeaways in the town cause there is nowhere to eat anything decent now that the mcdonalds has gone..shall i go on. .The writing is on the wall and has been for awhile.

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7dogsnuts says...
8:16am Thu 14 Mar 13

Grays as a thriving town centre is finished the murder outside eurolounge last week was another nail in the coffin to put a pub in the old court building is a recipe for disaster it's to late to revive grays the animals now run the zoo after dark grays is now a no go area nice decent people won't go into grays be easier to knock the lot down and build a zoo

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Bernard 87 says...
9:48am Thu 14 Mar 13

For once we hear some positive news about Grays and people are still so **** negative.

Bringing a Whetherspoons into Grays will act as a catalyst for other businesses to see the town centre as a viable location to bring their business. On top of that this pub would bring jobs and a decent place to sit and have a drink in the centre of the town. There are a whole load of flats in South Grays packed with commuters who will not dare venture into the 'traditional pubs' (except The Wharf) which will mean that there are 'decent' people who will use this new pub.

I cannot stand people who think we just just accept that Grays is rubbish and let the decline continue. All it takes is one big action to turn something/somewhere around and this may be it.

If The State was redeveloped as a bowling alley, concert venue etc, and with a new Whetherspoons not only will jobs be created but Grays would have some kind of night-time economy. A redeveloped State and a new pub would make places like Nandos, Pizza Hut, even McDonalds think about whether it would be profitable to open up in Grays. Even a small M&S local would be a good addition in the long term if people start to return and use the town centre.

If the council want office space, I suggest they look across the road at the ugly concrete block which permanently has a sign saying 'offices to let' scrawlled across it.

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OckendonPaul says...
9:53am Thu 14 Mar 13

The best use for the old courthouse would be to turn it back into a working court!
BTW for a decent pint of proper beer without the ****heads try the White Hart and Theobalds.

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Bernard 87 says...
10:31am Thu 14 Mar 13

I don't think its viable as a court anymore that why it closed down. With the government cutting back, courts in small towns have suffered. Although with the amount of violent crime in Thurrock lately they may want to think about reopening it again. If that doesn't happen then a Whetherspoons is a very good option.

The problem with the White Hart and Theobalds is that they are off the beaten track. If they were right in the town centre then there would be little use for a Whetherspoons.

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7dogsnuts says...
11:13am Thu 14 Mar 13

Further to my earlier grays is finished as a thriving town centre when you had woollies marks and sparks the coop the old market at the top end of the high street near joys them days will never come again we are all now paying the price for previous government immigration policies this is not racist this is fact now grays is a mixture of many ethic origins a lot moved out of London when the Olympics was built all the councils round London has dumped there problem tenants on us and paid some of them to move down here in the process things are not going to get any better no matter how much money you throw at grays town centre you are **** against the wind the only comfort for some of the older generation of grays is we can sell our houses and move to a nicer area were you can walk down the high street without getting mugged or assaulted and you can have a nice eal in a pub without the waft of cannabis in the air need I go on

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Reallyhadenough says...
12:07pm Thu 14 Mar 13

I cannot believe that the council would want to spent £2 million of tax payers money to create offices no one will rent rather than unload an unused building and make some money from it. Having a Wetherspoons could easily be the start of a new high street in Grays.

This semi romantic/nostalgic view of Grays has got be left in the past. Large shops like Woolies have gone bust, other big brand names will not entertain smaller shops outside of Lakeside as it is not good business sense.

The only way Grays will help haul itself out of the mire it is getting/got into is provide services or shops that you can't get elsewhere. To do that there needs to be a reason to go to Grays and if well managed a Wetherspoons can easily be that reason.

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northstiffordmum says...
12:21pm Thu 14 Mar 13

Another place for the down and outs to get cheap drink deals,and cause further anti-social behaviour. How can they consider this? the police can't patrol the one "nightclub" Grays already has as is evident in this weeks news. Turn it into some sort of family recreational facility, the state building too. Lets get families back into the town, i'm fed up with people reminding us of how crap this town is - it won't get better unless we make positive steps. I don't think another drinking establishment is the answer!!

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7dogsnuts says...
4:10pm Thu 14 Mar 13

northstiffordmum wrote:
Another place for the down and outs to get cheap drink deals,and cause further anti-social behaviour. How can they consider this? the police can't patrol the one "nightclub" Grays already has as is evident in this weeks news. Turn it into some sort of family recreational facility, the state building too. Lets get families back into the town, i'm fed up with people reminding us of how crap this town is - it won't get better unless we make positive steps. I don't think another drinking establishment is the answer!!
Sadly that is not the real world no matter how much money is thrown at grays town centre things will only get worse the future is Internet shopping and large shopping centres like lakeside who wants to go shopping in grays when you have to pay to park and look over your shoulder all the time in case someone's try's to mug you that is the real world which is only going to get worse I myself take my children out shopping to lakeside or bluewater which I consider a safe places to go and so do a lot of my friends

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Colin Dank says...
6:22pm Thu 14 Mar 13

Why would you put a Wetherspoons in Grays. There are enough places for local scumbags to hangout already. Don't need another one. Instead of passing drugs in KFC they will go to the Wetherspoons. Grays town centre is so scuzzy it can't even support a McDonalds. Jizz burger anyone? Make it offices. There will be a better class of footfall and will benefit other shops. If we have a Wetherspoons all the skanks, drunks and druggies will all go in there. Lets try to improve grays not give the local pond life somewhere else to congregate. I live in Grays so I know what I see

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Sphhhhh says...
9:07pm Thu 14 Mar 13

Nice thought having a nice little pub in middle of a town, sun shining, have a nice drink on way home from work and then you open your eyes and you wake up and realise your still in grays! cnt be saved by putting nice things there because its to far gone with certain people around there,it's sad but true.

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ardale lad says...
11:39pm Thu 14 Mar 13

Im so sorry but i just cant see myself saying to the mrs or family" lets go and have a meal/pint and go to grays town centre"Mind you it will save on plods fuel bill.

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suki1405 says...
8:28am Fri 15 Mar 13

I don't think having another pub that sells cheap drink and food will help solve the decline of Grays. It will attract trouble as people will pub hop. I used to work in one of the pubs in Grays and the same people that drank in it then, still drink in it and also used to go from one pub to another. They'd start in the queens, on to the railway, in to dominos, the the rising sun also into Jd's. Some of these pubs are no longer there but if Weatherspoon open up it will just replace the ones that are closed. How many times was the night club opened and then closed because of unruly people? too many is the answer. I agree that there needs to be something for Grays but I think another pub is just not the answer. I also used to work in the courthouse and inside this is a big building. It would fair better as a decent restaurant with function rooms that can be hired for birthdays ,wedding etc. It will still sell drink but maybe not as cheap and attract the unruly people as much.

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Make Thurrock Better says...
1:44pm Fri 15 Mar 13

I can see both sides of this issue and quite frankly it makes me despair. What are we to do then? Just give up? Say Grays is **it always will be **it so don't bother ever trying anything again. We will soon have a new college building in the center that I hope will also be used in the evenings for adult classes etc. This will change the nature of the evening traffic of people in the town centre. Also as an extension with SEC it may go on to provide university level courses. An addtional campus to the one in Southend. This is another change. New campus, redevelopment of the State Cinema, new Wetherspoons. These sites are placed beginning, middle and end of Grays. It's a start. Let's try and fill in the bits in between then with things other than pound shops. To those who oppose it all, all I can say is what do we have to lose by trying? I can understand all too well what people say about the nightclub that was shut down and the Eurolounge. Just look at what they are offering though. We need things that draw in mature and responsible people not banging music. Any nightclubs should be on the retail park as they are in Basildon. Well away from residential areas. This is supposed to be the prosperous south east. The Thames gateway yet I've been to towns and villages in the north that are more aestheitically pleasing and have more on offer. We can carp and do nothing about this or we can try. The campus is going ahead anyway and is already funded. Soon Grays will be full of students everyday. An injection of life into the local shops. Wetherspoons are a private company and will fund this themselves. What have we got to lose by giving it a go?

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Make Thurrock Better says...
1:56pm Fri 15 Mar 13

I would say also that one thing we do lack in Thurrock is somewhere to go that has character. The Boardwalk is all very well but restaurants that are part of a shopping center are never the same as individual, characterful ones in a high street. Piecemeal altering of the shop fronts to more characterful ones would change the nature of Grays shopping as would development of the riverfront for leisure. I know we are in hard times financially so all of those plans for Thurrock drawn up by the TDC are now on ice. I don't see why when a company are offering to make a start however at no cost to us we dont take it with both hands.

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Make Thurrock Better says...
2:04pm Fri 15 Mar 13

Just another thought. I wonder if when this new college campus is built the council would consider only offering a very mininal snack facility. Soft drinks and biscuits or sweets from a kiosk. Let the students rely on the food outlets in Grays town centre. This would boost the local enconomy. Other things then come into play. stationary, computers and phones, course materials for art and other subjects etc. The shops will change to meet demand. Thurrock council make it happen you have the power.

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Make Thurrock Better says...
2:18pm Fri 15 Mar 13

Just to further my point watch this video from the Eurolounge in Grays

http://www.youtube.c
om/watch?v=6yMDCKca1
QY

What will this type of venue attract? Are you surprised it causes trouble? As a policy Wetherspoons play no music in their pubs.

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Make Thurrock Better says...
2:21pm Fri 15 Mar 13

Seems the link won't work on here so if you just search Euro lounge Grays in You Tube you'll get to it.

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Chaffordmum says...
2:38pm Sat 16 Mar 13

Grays is full of skanks and drug addicts, police do nothing except queue in KFC for their tea. I for one give up on grays and am seriously considering moving out, it's disgusting, not even clean

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Marcus P says...
2:48pm Sat 16 Mar 13

I have lived in towns far rougher than Grays, mainly up north. They have a strong night time economy with little or no trouble.

The reason is that the Police patrol these areas every evening, thus deterring the local scumbags from harassing decent folk.

Part of Grays town centres problems is the zero Police presence in the area.

Grays as a whole has a very low Police presence.

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d_2da_ougle says...
3:49am Sun 17 Mar 13

i was about to bring that point up in the three weeks previous to this murder where was the police il tell you where, in ockendon by the dozen all in cars driving they dont like doing real police work on foot, grays cannot have a night life untill the town is policed like romford is or southend, time and time again euro lounge stabbing last week (rip liam), then before that aqua a man bleed to death outside before that pizaz secrets you cant have a night life without a police presence theve got no excuse the dam police station is at the top of the town centre and were paying council tax

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Make Thurrock Better says...
5:27pm Sun 17 Mar 13

Yes I do agree about the police presence in the area.It is far too low key considering the issues present.

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Rob-C100 says...
11:50pm Sun 17 Mar 13

Well, at least '7dogsnuts' cheered me up - how on earth can you write posts without using any punctuation? A little tip - read back what you have typed, and when you need to take a breath, add a comma. I know I'll get nasty remarks for saying this, but people's grammar these days really make me chuckle. Sorry for the interjection within your serious comments.......carry on.

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7dogsnuts says...
2:23pm Mon 18 Mar 13

Rob-C100 wrote:
Well, at least '7dogsnuts' cheered me up - how on earth can you write posts without using any punctuation? A little tip - read back what you have typed, and when you need to take a breath, add a comma. I know I'll get nasty remarks for saying this, but people's grammar these days really make me chuckle. Sorry for the interjection within your serious comments.......carry on.
yes posts without puntuation sadly my education was a goverment one from age 12 approved school which gives me a far greater insight into todays youth and problems of social disorder and yes grays could be saved with a 24 hour police presence on the street and private security gaurds but all that will do is move the problems to outlying areas it is now a major social problem grays town centre now i read in the gazette of stabbing by gang of blacks in chafford this is the future and its going to get worse

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Make Thurrock Better says...
3:56pm Mon 18 Mar 13

Better to have a post without punctuation that says something, rather than one with it that says nothing :)

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Thurrockbob says...
4:28pm Mon 18 Mar 13

I have said it before and I will say it again, Essex Police are about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike. So if you want a decent town centre, go elsewhere.

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Make Thurrock Better says...
5:02pm Mon 18 Mar 13

:) Love the analagy. "ashtray on a motorbike." Well if we look around us there are a hell of a lot of people living in this area. Are we all going to give up then? Also if the police really are that remiss then it's about time they were pulled up for it by local and central government.Having said that is it the age old problem of form filling taking the place of policing? That is a culture spread across everything now.

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Make Thurrock Better says...
2:52pm Tue 19 Mar 13

I think they should give Wetherspoons the go ahead but have certain things agreed beforehand. The character of the building should be preserved and the development has to offer a building at the head of the town centre that can be used as a template for the rest of the town. It's in a very important place strategically. At night walking up from the station it should be highly visible and well lit. This will give the beginnings of a face lift to the area.

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Make Thurrock Better says...
3:02pm Tue 19 Mar 13

Check out this link where Wetherspoons converted an old church in Folkestone

http://www.jdwethers
poon.co.uk/home/pubs
/the-samuel-peto

Why not retain and make a feature of the fact that the building was a courthouse. Maybe it could be called The Court House or the Magistrates etc and interior decor could be themed to suit.

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Tony71 says...
5:42am Thu 11 Apr 13

I used to live in the area and have watched the demise of Grays over the years. What i would however point out in that you do have several community focussed pubs in the area. My friends and i regularly visit Grays for the troika of pubs, the Traitors Gate, the Theobald Arms and the White Hart. In my opinion the atmosphere in these places is far more comfortable and friendly than the "spoons" pubs across the wider Essex and East London area. Use these pubs or lose them, if you want a livelier experience go on a Friday night, if you prefer a quiet pint try a Monday or Tuesday. As for the wider issue of Grays town centre the issue seems to be the combination of the proximity of Lakeside and public transport into London. If you live in Grays, and work in London chances are you might have more disposable income but they will be more likely to socialise in London. Perhaps the answer is to drastically reduce business rates to entice restaurants and shops back into town. Combine this with an increased police presence and maybe things will improve.

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