Plans have been submitted to transform a dilapidated former shop into new offices and staff facilities for one of York’s most famous historic buildings.
The Company of Merchant Adventurers has applied to repair and adapt 36 Fossgate, the Grade II listed building next door to the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, which it owns.
The three-storey property closed in December 2022 when Fossgate Books – whose customers over the years reportedly included Alan Bennett, Jools Holland, Timothy Spall, Melvyn Bragg and Andrew Marr – shut its doors after more than two decades of trading.
The building has since been sitting empty and deteriorating, with water leaking into one room, the staircase described in planning documents as “dangerous and not compliant,” and no heating system at all – staff had previously relied on portable electric heaters.
Now the company wants to bring it back to life – and in doing so, free up medieval spaces inside the adjacent hall that are currently used as staff offices.
A design and access statement says: “It has become in needs of major renovation following
piecemeal repairs over the past 40 years and its current dilapidation.”
Under the proposals, designed by chartered architects Donald Insall Associates, the ground floor of number 36 would become a shop and information point promoting the hall’s events and activities, giving the Merchant Adventurers a much more visible presence on Fossgate.
A meeting room would be created on the first floor, with staff facilities including a shower, toilet and tea point on the second.
The building would also be physically linked to the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall at first-floor level through the existing 1949 Governor’s Parlour extension at the rear – allowing staff to move between the two buildings without going outside.
A new staircase is central to the plans. The existing one is described in the application as narrow, poorly built and precipitous, making it impossible to move furniture safely up and down.
The replacement stairs would be built into the rear lightwell and designed to echo the surrounding historic context, with sash-style windows and handmade York brick.
The scheme would also allow the company to vacate its staff offices from within the medieval Hall itself. These spaces that would then be opened up to the public as part of an expanded visitor exhibition.
Planning documents describe this as one of the “compelling public benefits” of the scheme.
Other works planned include re-roofing to stop water damage, upgrading all services and installing a proper heating system, repairing and redecorating the traditional shopfront, and refurbishing the building’s original sash windows on Fossgate – removing a modern ventilation unit that currently mars their appearance.
The building dates from around 1812 and was originally built as an extension to the neighbouring King’s Arms Hotel.
It went on to house a string of residents and businesses over the decades – a draper, a brushmaker, a master painter – before the hotel closed in 1937. The Merchant Adventurers bought it in 1979 and it was let as retail premises, most recently to the bookshop.
Planning documents note the underground archaeology beneath the building is of high interest, as Fossgate follows the line of a Roman road into York. A new structural foundation for the staircase will be laid above the existing basement floor level to avoid disturbing what may lie beneath.
The Merchant Adventurers’ Hall – one of the best-preserved medieval guildhalls in the country – dates from 1357.
The application has been submitted to City of York Council. It follows a structural investigation into 36 Fossgate.
You can read and comment on the planning application on the City of York Council planning portal here.
