Inspector's green light for bank to become bar

Barclays Bank in the old Glossop Road baths has been closed for some time, after the banking giant opened a new branch on the corner of Barker's Pool and Pinstone Street.

In April last year, a planning application to transform the vacant building into a bar or restaurant was refused by the council's planning committee on the grounds of noise and disturbance to neighbours.

Prior to that meeting, residents of apartments in the same building told the council that the area was already saturated with drinking establishments and had been turned from a shopping district into something like "Blackpool promenade" at night.

Another resident suggested that the location would be ideal for a "superb upmarket restaurant on the first floor with a lounge bar and cafe on the ground floor", but there was no need for "any more student boozers".

Already, the immediate area is populated by numerous restaurants and bars, including a busy branch of the JD Wetherspoons pub chain.

However, an appeal against the planning committee's decision has been successful, with the planning inspector concluding that the application adheres to council policy.

The inspector said that a further bar or restaurant on Glossop Road "would not change the balance of retail to non-retail uses in the area and would not harm the vitality of the Devonshire Quarter".

Although it was accepted that changing the use of the building could result in an increase in noise, the inspector said this could be tackled by putting conditions on any future development.

He concluded that, although people living nearby might suffer increased disturbance, the plans would not be "unaceptably harmful" to living conditions.

The inspector advised that any bar or restaurant opening up at the site should close at 12.30am and deliveries should only take place between 8am and 9pm.