New bid to turn historic city centre pub building into office space

Last year, the New Beehive Inn on Westgate was awarded Grade II Listed status by Historic England – with the group describing it as a “rare survival” of a pub from the early 1900s.

But the listing came after the pub had already been shut down, and plans to convert the building into offices came a few weeks later.

Those plans were withdrawn shortly after concerns were raised by a Council Conservation officer – who argued the pub interior warranted protecting.

Now a new application to convert the building into offices has been submitted by Sakhawat Hussain. The new plans seem to acknowledge that work had already been done to the pub’s interior – but say this work was carried out before the building was granted listed status.

The plans show that while the pub’s tap room and pink room would be replaced by office space, some of the historic features would be retained.

These include fireplaces, the main bar, seating and ring bells.

The New Beehive Inn

Recently the Campaign for Real Ale highlighted the New Beehive as a historic pub that could easily be lost if efforts are not made by Bradford Council to preserve them.

The application says: “A charity will be taking on the whole building under its use and will need some office facilities on the ground floor as this would be required for them to operate the charity efficiently and effectively.”

Referring to the building’s recent history, it adds: “The pub was only open six hours a day on a Saturday as there was no business in the area, and closed completely during Covid.

“The owner decided not to re-open the pub, and it was sold to my client.

“At this stage the pub was not listed, no listing application was in the process, and construction works had started within the building.

“Rather than leaving the building empty and letting it deteriorate further, the client wants to bring the building back into use as offices on the ground floor, by keeping as much of the original features as possible when the building was officially recorded as listed.

“The client has invested a lot of time and money to bring the building up to a good standard while retaining its original features.”

Referring to the listing, the application says: “While the building has been listed it is not within a conservation area there are other more important buildings within the surrounding areas of much greater importance due to their architectural and historical interests.”

A decision on the application is expected next month.