Fly tipped site of one of city’s most famous pubs could be redeveloped amid new plans

The Beacon Hotel in Buttershaw came to national attention through classic film Rita, Sue and Bob too – much of which is based on the Buttershaw Estate.

The playwright behind the film, Andrea Dunbar, was a regular presence in the pub, and it was in the Beacon where Dunbar collapsed after suffering a brain haemorrhage that proved to be fatal in 1990 at the age of just 29.

The pub had been shut for years, and was demolished in 2019.

The site is currently vacant, and when the Local Democracy Reporting Service visited on Thursday it was strewn with fly tipping, including two fridges, burned out furniture and a collection of tyres.

This week a planning application to redevelop the site with light industrial workshops was approved by Bradford Council.

When the pub was demolished, the plan was to replace the building with housing, and an application for 14 homes was approved by Bradford Council.

Applicants Crag Developments came back earlier this year with revised plans for the site – applying to build industrial units instead of housing.

The company said the site, with planning permission for homes, had been marketed for almost three years, with no interest from builders.

The application said the land was particularly marketed to the commercial, care and social housing sectors “without securing any development interest.”

The company added: ““It must be concluded that given the very low capital value of completed houses in this area of the city there is something of a ‘market failure.’

“The site has been tested for all residential uses without finding favour.”

The first application for industrial units was refused this Spring, with planners saying the units would not provide “an attractive frontage.” They also raised concerns that there was no coal mining risk assessment included in the application, when there was apparently an old mine entrance in the area.

The company returned with a re-designed application, which included a coal mining risk assessment, and this application was approved this week.

It means eight light industrial units can be built on the site, along with 20 parking spaces.