A listed building which has been empty since 2010 is set to be converted into flats.

The former Barclays Bank on Silver Street street in Bury town centre which, which at one time housed the town’s council chamber and offices, is the subject of plans to convert it into nine flats.

The property, close to Library Gardens, is a Grade II listed building, added to the statutory list in 1981.

It was built in 1868 in an "enriched classical style".

Its features include five large windows, the upper ones having shaped hoods on brackets.

The middle bay projects slightly and the ground floor has a large arched entry and a grotesque head as a keystone.

If approved the plans would create five one-bed apartments and four with two beds.

 

The building is Grade II listed

The building is Grade II listed

 

A design and access statement attached to the plans states: “The outbuildings to the rear, formerly bank vaults and servicing spaces, will be adapted to provide a bin store and cycle storage space with access to Bank Street via an existing passage to the west side of the Bank Chambers building.

“No significant external works are proposed although a blanking panel will be inserted within ground floor windows.

"The works will include installation of a new stair and lift and a new mezzanine floor within the former banking hall space to the south side of the building.

“Access will be retained off Silver Street. Sections of masonry walling will be removed in several areas to accommodate new stairs and to provide door openings into the apartment spaces.

“A number of existing openings will also be blocked off.”

The building was constructed by the Bury Banking Company in around 1868 and was taken over by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank in 1888, later through merger becoming a branch of Martins Bank in 1928 and later Barclays Bank.

For a time the upper floor of the building was used as the council chamber and offices.