Former Pin Wei building to be demolished for six new homes

Plans to knock down the former Pin Wei restaurant in High Street, Abbots Langley, to build the two-storey houses were approved at the Three Rivers planning committee meeting last night (September 12).

The restaurant, which served Chinese, Japanese and Thai dishes, closed in December 2022 – 17 years after opening and six months after the site’s owner told the family business its contract would be ending.

Pin Wei shut in Abbots Langley High Street in December 2022. (Image: Google Maps) It will now see two two-bed homes, three three-beds, and one four-bed built in its place, in rows of three terraced properties with individual gardens.

When Pin Wei shut in 2022, owner Choy Chan told the Watford Observer: “I’ve been so busy recently I haven’t had to think about it being closed, but I am getting more and more emotional.

“It’s sad for all the staff because we have worked together for some time.”

Left to right: Ms Chan's mother, Ms Chan's daughter and Ms Chan, the owner of the restaurant. (Image: Pin Wei) Ms Chan’s three children, her brother, sister and their mother had all worked at the restaurant throughout its 17 years of business.

She added: “We have seen customers’ children grow up and then they have had children.

“And a lot of people have had first dates at the restaurant, and they have got married and had children.”

• Beloved restaurant's former home looks set to be demolished for houses
• Family-run restaurant closes after 17 years

The layout of the approved six-home scheme. (Image: Sursham Tompkins/Caldecotte Group) The leasehold to the building went on the market for £180,000 in July, 2023, before the housing plans were submitted last October.

A nine-unit scheme had been submitted to TRDC for pre-application advice in 2019 but was judged to be a “cramped form of development” by the district council.

The current six-home project was recommended for approval at a meeting on August 15, but the proposals were deferred due concerns over how the bins would be collected.

At the meeting yesterday, planning officers and committee members felt the issues had been resolved after the applicant relocated the bin store in the layout plan and added a ramped access for three of the plots.

Residents would now have to place their bins onto a relocated bin stand on collection days and more information on the turning circle for bin lorries was offered.