Plan to transform historic Yorkshire picture house building into luxury apartments

The £2.2m project would transform the old Picture House in Castleford into 25 high-end flats. The historic building on Station Road has been empty and in a neglected state since it was the target of a suspected arson attack almost five years ago.

Developer Jordan Buchan has submitted plans to Wakefield Council to build rental properties on the site. Mr Buchan said the new building will contain a gym, cinema room and an office hub. The ground floor will also house the offices of the estate agent who will manage the tenants. The developer said he also hopes to attract a coffee chain to move into the complex and talks are currently underway with Starbucks and Costa.

Mr Buchan said: “We are at the planning stage at the moment but hope to get to work straight away if the application is approved. We are looking at the luxury end, not just standard flats. We have had interest from potential tenants from the Leeds area. Rental will be around half the cost of a similar flat in Leeds city centre.”

The Picture House, which opened in 1921, was previously a luxury cinema and theatre. Crowds lined the street outside the building when The Princess Royal – Princess Mary – visited Castleford in 1955, for the Charter Day ceremony, making the area officially a borough.

The cinema, which seated up to 1,200 people and also had a ballroom and stage facilities, was decorated with flowers and bunting for the occasion. Following its closure in 1964, the building was run as a restaurant, bingo hall, café bar, pub and nightclub.

A blaze in January 2017 left much of it gutted. Mr Buchan bought the building at auction earlier this year.

He said: “We plan to restore the building as much as possible and get a lot of the original features back. A lot of work needs to be done. There was a big hole in the roof and pigeons were roosting inside. It was pretty smashed up inside. It has been causing problems for the police and fire brigade but we have secured the building. We want to start letting 18 months after the work starts.”

The new development would contain one penthouse flat plus a range of two, three and four-bedroom flats. Mr Buchan said he is also involved in a similar project at the former Shoulder of Mutton pub, in Batley.Wakefield Council has confirmed that a planning application has been received and is in the process of being validated.Once the application is valid, planning documents will be available to view on the Council’s website and there will be opportunity for the public to comment.