A DORSET countryside pub off the A37 could be converted into a guest house.

A planning request for the change of use comes from the owner of the Sheaf of Arrows on the Dorchester to Yeovil Road at Melbury Osmond.

The pub has been extensively refurbished in recent years but is no longer considered to be financially viable as a pub, according to owner Deborah Hughes.

She says after extensive refurbishment the re-opened pub failed to attract enough visitors and is likely to be a more profitable business as a guest house.

Dorset Council is being asked to consider a change of use and conversion for part of the ground floor "into a guest house for post operative or elderly (short term use)."

Plans submitted with the planning application show three bedrooms, a kitchen and separate bathroom, together with a reception area and storage space. The existing skittle alley and part of the bar area would be converted to create the necessary space.

A document with the application says the rooms could be used by people needing post-operative recovery or elderly people in need of a short-term stay for other reasons.

A planning agent, acting for Mrs Hughes, says the only external changes would be to form new doors to the rear with access to each bedroom from the current bar area, which is to remain in place.

Said the agent in a letter to Dorset Council: "The bar is to become a bottle bar as the main cellars are to be converted to an en-suite to one of the rooms. The toilet area to the main bar area is to remain."

In a letter to the council Mrs Hughes says she bought the pub in November 2022 after it had been empty for some time. After two year and what Mrs Hughes describes as "a huge amount of money" the pub re-opened in November 2024.

She told Dorset Council in a statement: "Despite good weather from last March, traditionally busy times such as Mother's Day, Easter holidays and May Bank Holiday, brought in very few customers. Even on Sundays, our busiest day, we would rarely have more than 20 customers, often a lot less.

"In May, I decided to close the doors as the business was losing thousands of pounds a month and I no longer believed that it would pick up. Even with the heavy holiday traffic, the pub was empty," she said.

She said the new use would benefit the wider community: "There are many people in hospital who do not need to be. They may be unable to go home for whatever reason, are post operative or elderly and though not ill, may be in need of somewhere to stay in the short term. I am able to provide a service not provided by B&Bs or small hotels offering three home cooked meals a day in a homely environment where they would have company and communal areas. I am not offering nursing but can arrange for registered carers, chiropodists and hairdressers etc to visit to give personal care…"

"I see this as a much more stable business than a public house with fewer of the associated crippling staff and utility costs."

The parish council, in a statement to Dorset Council's planning team, say they still believe the business could be viable as a pub.