A bid has been made to turn a former shop and pub in a Suffolk town into a flat.
A planning application to turn the former Valerie’s Consignment Store, off Bridge Road in Halesworth, into a residential flat has been made.
With the second-hand clothes shop closing earlier this year, the unit which directly faces Bridge Street, has been empty since.
Michael Bygrave has applied for permission for “change of use of the front unit (an empty shop) to a ground floor flat” to East Suffolk Council.
Four flats currently occupy the remainder of the building, with three on the first floor, and one adjacent to the retail unit.
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The building was previously home to the Hawk pub for nearly 200 years, with the public house opening in 1776 and closing in 1969.
The building was then permitted to become a space for an office and storage in the 1970s. The property was then divided into residential spaces on the first floor and retail shops on the ground floor.
It was first listed as a Grade II listed building in 1972.
The heritage statement in the planning documents sent to East Suffolk Council says: “The design of a ground floor flat is a good solution, with minimum impact on this historic building and the environment, to keep the Hawk occupied for the future, in what had been Valerie's shop”.
Suffolk County Council Highways authority holds no objections to the plans.
No decision has yet been made by the district council.
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