{"id":77617,"date":"2025-08-19T11:22:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T11:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/77617\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T11:22:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T11:22:07","slug":"former-castle-meadow-optometrist-property-under-offer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/77617\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Castle Meadow optometrist property under offer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  The signs can be seen on the former Paxon and Thomas practice on Castle Meadow, which closed last year.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The property, which is being managed by Arnolds Keys is a\u00a0grade-II listed three-storey self-contained vacant office building with a\u00a0basement.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   alt=\"The building at 20 Castle Meadow \" style=\"width: 100%;\"\/>The building at 20 Castle Meadow (Image: Newsquest) According to the agents&#8217; listing, the\u00a0first and second floors were recently\u00a0redecorated and provide &#8220;self-contained predominantly open-plan offices&#8221; with toilets and kitchen facilities at each level.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Paxon and Thomas, which offered eye tests and sold a range of glasses and specialist contact lenses,\u00a0was originally opened more than 50\u00a0years ago.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Adrian Hudson, the managing director of Lords Opticians, which is a small independent opticians in Norfolk, described the closure of the Castle Meadow\u00a0branch as a &#8220;sad loss&#8221; brought on by several reasons.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  He also added that in 2017 his\u00a0wife was\u00a0diagnosed with cancer\u00a0and this &#8211;\u00a0combined with\u00a0the\u00a0Covid pandemic, rising business costs and competition from national chains &#8211; meant that the business was no longer financially viable.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Since its closing, the building has remained empty with the original signs stating the practice was closed still in the window.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Dentists <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eveningnews24.co.uk\/news\/25168519.plans-new-norwich-dentist-castle-meadow-approved\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">have also since shown interest in the building<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  An application, submitted by RS Dental\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eveningnews24.co.uk\/news\/24927562.plans-new-norwich-dentist-castle-meadow-revealed\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">in February<\/a>, was given Norwich City Council&#8217;s seal of approval earlier this year.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  It could\u00a0see the ground and first floors of 20 Castle Meadow converted into a fully equipped dental practice.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  According to signage plans, the dental team will include Dr Rekha Shrestha, Dr Liezl Husslemann\u00a0and dental hygienist Julie Winders.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Developers say new plumbing and electrical systems will be installed to support modern dental equipment, while original architectural features will be preserved.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Minor accessibility improvements, including new patient toilets, are also planned.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  A Norwich City Council planning officer said: &#8220;The proposed works will support the continued optimal viable use and ongoing maintenance of the heritage asset, while\u00a0avoiding substantial alterations to historic fabric.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The signs can be seen on the former Paxon and Thomas practice on Castle Meadow, which closed last&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77618,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-77617","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}