Kentish Express Ashford & District
Mill plan revealed
■ Historic flour mill set to be converted into 60 ‘high-quality’ flats as developer snaps up seven-storey building ■ Ashford School had owned former nightclub for 10 years and previously revealed plans for 250-seat theatre
Ashford’s historic flour mill is set to be converted into 60 flats after being snapped up by a property developer.
The derelict H.S Pledge and Sons mill, at the bottom of East Hill, is more familiar to residents as the home of several former nightclubs, most recently Liquid and Envy.
Ashford School took over the unlisted building in 2011, but the Kentish Express revealed last January how the private school was keen to release the site from its estate.
It has now sold the landmark building to 34-year-old developer Oliver Davis following two years of negotiating.
His company – Oliver Davis Homes – specialises in conversion projects and the 120-yearold site is set to become his firm’s headquarters.
“Our plan is to transform the mill into an amazing river-fronting development of 60 high-quality apartments available to rent,” he said.
“It will have a residents’ gym, cafe, games room, lounge and working space as well as riverside open leisure space outdoors.
“If someone had said to me 15 years ago that I would own the flour mills, I would have laughed.”
Mr Davis, who used to visit the site when it was a club, has previously worked on projects for Folkestone and Hythe District Council and East Kent Housing.
In 2018, his company converted a former office block in Whitstable into luxury flats, with prices starting from £150,000.
He has taken on the mill project with business partner Rory Brace, 33, and the pair have already been in discussions with Ashford Borough Council (ABC) about the scheme.
It is not yet known when a formal planning application will be submitted but they say the site, which has been empty since 2014, will need to be stripped out before any work can begin.
Mr Brace said: “Our ambition for this beautiful building is to firstly save it from the brink of being beyond repair, and then bring it back to life to provide a high-quality place for people to live as well as work, exercise and socialise.
“As we delve further into the site’s history, we are understanding more and more about activity on the site, right back to the Domesday Book.
“The fascinating and varied uses of this particular site over the years will influence our plans for it going forward, where we hope to create exciting new spaces influenced by its fascinating past.”
In 2017, proposals emerged to turn the seven-storey building, which was rebuilt after a disastrous fire in May 1974, into a performing arts centre for Ashford School complete with a 250-seat theatre and staff offices.
Construction of a number of studio flats and a nursery on the ground floor were considered, but the 1901-built mill did not feature in the school’s draft ‘masterplan’ drawn up by architect Shepheard Epstein Hunter.
Instead, it included a bid for a new sixth form building within the school site, which was approved by ABC last March.
■ See letters on pages 22-23 ■ What do you think about the plans for the mill? Email kentishexpress@thekmgroup. co.uk