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Former Melling restaurant set for new life as nursery

Plans to convert the former Pear Tree Inn into a nursery for up to 80 children have been approved

[Alba Restaurant Melling has closed]

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Alba Restaurant Melling has closed(Image: Liverpool ECHO)

Plans to convert a Melling restaurant into a nursery with a maximum capacity of 80 children across different age groups have been approved by Sefton Council. The former Pear Tree Inn sits on a triangular plot between Bank Lane and Prescot Road, near to Headbolt Lane station. After the pub shut down, the building was taken over by Italian fine-dining restaurant Alba, but this also announced its closure earlier this year.

The proposed Bumbles Nursery would provide 21 spaces for babies, 24 for toddlers and 35 for pre-school aged children. The children would be split across three rooms on the ground floor, while a sensory room would also be available to them. On the first floor, there would be toilets, a utility room, offices and a staff room.

The development includes a single storey, flat-roof extension to the rear of the building, which would largely replace an existing extension but would result in a 16% increase in the total floor area.

A new nursery in the area would help meet the childcare needs of the borough, council documents state. An assessment in 2025 showed that there is on average zero year-round vacancies for under twos, two-year-olds, three and four-year olds all year round in the council ward in question (Molyneux).

During term time, there is an average of zero vacancies for under-twos, two for two-year-olds and 26.5 for three and four-year-olds. Demand also threatens to exceed supply in neighbouring wards, suggesting children may be travelling into Molyneux for nursery places.

It comes as new local housing developments, paired with the introduction of 30 hours of funded childcare for working parents of children from the age of nine months from September 2025, are expected to push up demand.

The development would increase the number of off-street parking spaces from 28 to 32. This falls short of what the council would normally require by three spaces, but the planning authority judged it to be acceptable because there is a space within the site to wait off the highway, and it is unlikely that all the bays will be filled for longer than a few minutes at a time.

Bumbles Nursery would have 15 full-time staff members and would be open between 7:30am and 6pm on weekdays. Bumbles Nursery Group is a family-run early years provider first established over 20 years ago, with nurseries across Maghull, Aintree, Orrell Park and Old Swan.

The group said in its application that it works closely with Sefton Early Years and other partner agencies, and has a strong reputation for supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

It added the proposed nursery in Melling will build upon its model of high-quality childcare in an area with growing demand, helping to address a lack of local provision.

The application received six objections, with concerns raised over air quality, highway safety and parking implications and harm to the green belt.

The site is located in the green belt, although in a built-up area, and the council decided that the nature of the development would not impact the openness of the surrounding landscape, especially as a nursery would not be expected to have a higher level of activity than a pub or restaurant.

An acoustic, 2.1-metre-high fence is proposed as part of the development, and the council decided that there would be no significant impacts to neighbours given the distance between the site and their properties.

Cllr Sam Hinde, who represents Aintree and Maghull South, called the application into the Planning Committee, saying that he wanted members to consider neighbours concerns about highway safety particularly regarding drop off and pick up arrangements air quality and protecting the character of the area.

Darren Muir of the Pegasus Group spoke at the meeting on behalf of the applicant, stating: This is a modest, well-contained proposal.

The proposal also represents an appropriate use for a substantial existing building, and is consistent with national planning policy, he added.

There are substantial social and economic benefits.

Independent councillor for Maghull East David Leatherbarrow asked if private nurseries have catchment areas, or whether parents in his ward would also be able to benefit from the increase in provision. Council officers told him that there are no formal catchment zones.

Councillors then voted unanimously in favour of the application on the conditions that the building work uses similar materials to those used in the existing building, that sound insulation is installed as suggested by the applicant and that a travel plan be approved by the council before the nursery opens.

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