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Jersey Pearl's iconic premises could be knocked down and replaced with a smaller shop, café and two houses to help secure a "viable future" for the business, if Planning agree.
Plans have been submitted to demolish all buildings on the Five Mile Road site in St. Ouen and break up the large car park to the side and back.
If approved, a replacement Jersey Pearl shop, café and ‘community studio’ will be built, together with one three-bedroom house and a four-bedroom house.
There will be a smaller car park and landscaping around the site.
In a report accompanying the planning application, Jersey Pearl explained that the decision to reduce the size of their offering was driven by declining tourist numbers - particularly the reduction in the coach market - and the pandemic.
Pictured: Jersey Pearl occupies an iconic spot on La Grande Route des Mielles in the Coastal National Park.
A design statement included with the application says: “At its heart, the proposal seeks to provide a viable future for the Jersey Pearl tourism site and an enhancement of St. Ouen’s Bay through more sensitive design and siting of development, and landscape and ecological improvements."
It continued: “The application documentation shows a fundamental change from a site dominated by a large car park and a large building to a site dominated by planting and landscaping, accompanied by buildings that are sensitively designed for their context and lower, appropriate levels, of car parking.”
It adds: “A reduction in built floor area and footprint are proposed. This would be achieved while retaining an employment use, providing two good quality family homes and a facility available to the community, all constructed to meet sustainable design objectives, and also delivering safer accesses and enhancements to sustainable transport options.”
The application for redevelopment of the site - which lies in the Coastal National Park - says that road and pedestrian safety will be improved, as well as cycle, e-charging and bus infrastructure, including a new shelter.
A percentage-for-art contribution will also be provided.
It adds that sustainability has been “positively addressed” by reusing already developed land, reuse and recycling of materials, energy and water conservation measures and design beyond the 20% energy improvement rating standard.
Before being a jewellery showroom, the site was a popular tourist stopover going back to the 1940s, past names including the New Mediterranean and the Blue Dahlia.
A purpose-built entertainment facility, the original premises included an outdoor swimming pool and terrace designed to create a daytime beach club and had space for up to 70 cars and 10 coaches. However, the demise of out-of-town entertainment left the property - then known as Clumps nightclub - empty in 1986, paving the way for its conversion into a Jersey Goldsmiths showroom the following year.
As tourism began to decline in the mid-90s, Jersey Goldsmiths moved to St. Lawrence, and Jersey Pearl took its space in St. Ouen. The move proved worthwhile, with the business reporting that it attracted "30% of the islands' total tourist arrivals each year".
However, since the "early 2020s", Jersey Pearl says it has noticed a "steady decline" in arrivals, as well as "a move towards a more affluent social demographic".
"This has been most noticeable in the coaching market which is now a fraction of the size of that in the 1980s, with the number of coaches on the road reducing from around 40 on any day in the summer season down to around five in 2019," the business reported.
Pictured: Jersey Pearl said the decline in the coach tour market was having an impact.
"It was becoming obvious that the large building space and parking provided by the site at St. Ouen was becoming less fit for purpose and not as necessary as it had once been."
In addition, the business also suffered a "shock" due to the pandemic. Despite the easing of restrictions, Jersey Pearl noted that the decline in tourist numbers and coach trips had continued, leading directors to conclude "it would be prudent to explore a change of use of the existing site to include a smaller more appropriate pearl offering.
If approved, Jersey Pearls say the redevelopment "would enable the business to serve the reduced tourist population more effectively and also liberate some space for a quality residential development."
"This together with the new Pearl Centre would reduce the visual impact of the property and help to support the future viability of Jersey Pearl," they concluded.
A decision on the application, which is graded 'Major' by Planning, will be made at a later date.
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