The Fleece in Richmond shut in July after a four-year spell as a boutique hotel and restaurant, with the owners citing high operating costs and staffing issues.

The distinctive Scottish baronial-style inn was built in 1897 to serve stagecoach traffic between Yorkshire and Scotland in the trade’s dying years.

It later became a pub and nightclub, and when the former closed in 2015, its upper floors had been derelict and disused for 30 years.

It was bought by local developers Peter Coulson and David Colley, who also renovated the mews apartments in the courtyard.

Fleece Holdings Ltd have now applied to North Yorkshire Council for a change of use for the building from hotel to residential with a ground floor restaurant unit.

The proposal is for the nine en-suite hotel rooms on the first and second floors to be converted into three two-bedroom apartments.

Few changes will be made to the historic fabric of the building and an original fireplace will be reinstated on the ground floor.

The planning documents state that the current use of the building is ‘not viable’.

According to Companies House records, Mr Colley and Mr Coulson are no longer directors of Fleece Holdings Ltd, but Christopher Miles, who was running the hospitality venture before its closure, remains one.

The scheme is currently under consideration.

The Fleece, Richmond: Grade II-listed Yorkshire coaching inn could be converted into apartments after closure of hotel