PLANS have been submitted to turn Boscombe’s former Sir Percy Florence Shelley pub into a dessert parlour.

A planning application was submitted almost simultaneously with the popular watering hole calling last orders for the final time.

Although local rumour had it that the Sprinkles chain might be taking over the building, the company behind the new planning application is Chocolate Brownies (Southern) Ltd.

Paperwork submitted by the new business’s agent, Architecture Design Limited, Kent, reveals that the premises will be concerned with “the making of gelato, crepes and waffles”.

The company is seeking a lawful development certificate for a change of use, rather than submitting a full planning application. It argues that planning policies allow the change of use unless the building is designated as a community asset, which is not the case with the former pub.

“The proposed use … is therefore lawful and this certificate should be granted approval,” the applicant writes.

The Sir Percy Florence Shelley, on Christchurch Road, had been serving since 1998 and was popular with locals and visiting football fans heading for AFC Bournemouth’s Vitality Stadium.

It was one of 45 pubs that were put on the market last year by national chain JD Wetherspoon, with the company initially saying it hoped many pubs would be bought as going concerns.

All the staff were transferring to other Wetherspoon pubs.

Boscombe West councillor Phil Stanley-Watts could not comment yet on the new application because he sits on the borough’s planning committee.

But he said: “I think everybody feels something needs to be done and it should be some kind of eatery.

“I think a lot of people felt it was a real shame it had to close down.”

The premises was originally the entrance and foyer of the Carlton Super Cinema, a 1931 building which was the sister of Bournemouth’s ABC. The auditorium was demolished in the early 2000s.