Restaurant plan backed for vandal-hit docks landmark

THE OWNERS of a crumbling landmark building are making a fresh bid for planning permission to change the ground floor into a restaurant, cafe and ice cream parlour.

An application for changing the use of the Lord Line building on St Andrew’s Dock, Hull, was refused by councillors in June.

Vacant since 1975, the building, which once served trawler crews operating from what was the home of the world’s largest deep-water fishing fleet, has been the subject of repeated vandalism and numerous arson attacks.

But the site is on the local list of buildings of interest and held in esteem by thousands of people who signed petitions last year to save it from being knocked down.

Humberside Police complained earlier this year that officers had been called out more than 100 times to the building in just 12 months. The force has now written to the council asking the owner to agree to a review of site security, before work begins, to ensure “there will not be another prolonged draw on police resources”.

Councillors, who will meet on Wednesday next week, are being recommended to approve the latest plan, described by the council’s conservation officer Philip Hampel as a “welcome reuse of an important locally listed building”.

However, Mr Hampel expresses doubt over the economic viability of the plans “given the isolated nature of the building”.