A developer behind a bid to convert a vacant York live music venue into homes has lodged a new application for a café in the building.
Plans from The Vaults (York) Ltd would see the ground floor of the Victoria Vaults building, in Nunnery Lane, turned into a café with an outdoor seating area.
Nook Architecture Ltd, the applicant’s agents, stated the café would create six full-time jobs.
An application from the same developer to convert the building into three homes remains live on the council’s online planning portal.
The latest plans come as part of a bid to redevelop the building which has stood empty since the Vaults closed last December.
It hosted artists including Bez from The Happy Mondays and Blondie drummer Clem Burke along with goth discos, poetry readings and several other rock, pop and reggae acts.
The building first opened as a pub around 160 years ago.
Estate agents Barry Crux are currently marketing the lease on the building’s ground floor, which was occupied by the venue also known as York Vaults, for £25,000-a-year.
Their listing stated it would be ideal for hosting a pub but the building’s owners were also open to offers from café or coffee shop businesses.
The developer was required to market the venue for at least two years to comply with local planning policies.
Alongside plans for a café, the developer has also lodged an application to convert the building into one four-bedroom house and two with two bedrooms each.
They stated in those plans the venue proved unviable and had struggled to attract offers from potential tenants or buyers since it closed.
They added it closed after losing considerable amounts of money, despite operating on a reduced lease of £17,500-a-year and receiving a £90,000 Government grant during the coronavirus pandemic.
But the plans have been met with opposition, including from Micklegate ward’s Labour councillors Jane Burton, Jonny Crawshaw and Pete Kilbane.
Cllr Burton told the Local Democracy Reporing Service (LDRS) places where people could come together and forge communities were needed now more than ever.
The councillor added local ward members believed the building was still the perfect location for an arts and culture venue.
Artist Bob Jackson said in an objection to the home conversion plans a group of like-minded people were looking at taking on the lease and running it as a co-operative.
LDRS understands several parties were also looking at putting together bids to save the venue as of October.
The council approved an application from York’s Campaign For Real Ale (CAMRA) branch to designate the building as an asset of community value (ACV) in December last year.
ACV status, which is typically granted to sports, cultural and recreational buildings, will be taken into account if the application goes before the council’s Planning Committee.
