virtual-lancaster has learnt that local company Mitchells has given notice to Lancaster City Council that it intends to demolish the old brewery off Lancaster’s Moor Lane.
The company does not require planning permission to demolish the premises.
However, the plan is already being met with fierce opposition from local Bulk ward councillors, who argue the buildings could form a cornerstone of any new development in the area, without being bulldozed.
Reputedly haunted, the Brewery on Brewery Lane was originally built in the mid-1800s by brewers Yates & Jackson, which ceased brewing in the 1980s and were bought out by Mitchells.
Mitchells ceased brewing on the site in mid-1999, although the company maintained its pub and hotel chain and bought York Brewery in 2008. As well as the Brewery site, the company owns some 60 pubs and five individual hotels across North Lancashire and South Cumbria.
Local councillor John Whitelegg told virtual-lancaster he was appalled by the demolition plan.
“This is exactly what I thought would happen and why I asked for a Buildings Protection Notice, which was refused on the recommendation of Lancaster City Council’s senior planning officers,” he told us.
“The demolition would be an act of unrestrained vandalism,” John argues, “and would result in the loss of a collection of buildings with enormous potential to enrich our cultural and regeneration efforts.”
Like other local councillors, John feels the plan will do nothing but give the city a bad name in the minds of many. The demolition would attract national publicity he feels “and Lancaster City Council if minded to approve would go down in history as a collaborator in vandalism.”
All of Bulk Ward’s councillors object to any demolition and have formally proposed that the application is rejected on grounds that it pre-empts the conservation area review, the inspector’s report on the Centros development and the decisions of the Secretary of State on the importance Lancaster should attach to these buildings when considering planning applications.
It also contradicts Lancaster City Council’s own policies to protect and preserve the city’s historic buildings.
“I hope the Council will not agree to the demolition request,” says John. “This proposal rides rough shod over democratic process and should be rejected outright.”
Mitchells must be stopped if community friendly regeneration is to occur in this area. Demolition of these buildings would leave a horrible scar on the neighborhood removing what would be the landmark building from an area that could really be an asset if it were regenerated sensitively.
Please join us at Mitchell's Brewery, Brewery Lane 12 noon tomorrow (22nd) to speak to the press to demand the protection of this building. A press photographer will be there to take a group photo, so the more people the better.