PLANS to turn one of the most derelict streets in the North East into a vibrant £12m hub of fine dining and tourist accommodation based around a new public square have been submitted.
Three buildings on Newgate Street, Bishop Auckland, are to be demolished to create a tree-lined public access to a new car park on a brownfield wasteland.
This will clean up what Historic England calls “an ugly back land space” and allow the creation of the “Kingsway Quarter” in the derelict but historic buildings that surround it.
It is hoped the transformation will be complete by next Easter.
Before: As it is today from Kingsway looking towards Newgate Street
Below: As it could be in a year's time following the development of the Kingsway Quarter. Pictures courtesy of The Auckland Project
On the east side of Newgate Street, an abandoned Victorian pub will be converted into a restaurant to be run by a local Masterchef contestant, while an old Burtons shop is to be taken on by a local brewery.
On the north side of the development, two of Bishop Auckland’s most historic, and most derelict buildings – the Mechanics Institute and the Masonic Hall – are to be brought back to life as tourist accommodation.
Above: The Mechanics Institute on Victoria Avenue is to become tourist accommodation. Below: How the accommodation will look from the new Kingsway Quarter car park. Picture by architects Cellar Door of Richmond
Work on the former Burtons building has already begun, while The Auckland Project has formally applied to Durham County Council for planning permission to demolish a late Victorian shoe shop on Newgate Street, create the public park, and turn the wasteland behind the shoe shop into an 80-space car park.
Looking from Newgate Street through the new public square and car park, with the Lightfoot Institute in Kingsway in the background. Picture by Cellar Door Architecture of Richmond, who have designed the new square and the conversion of the buildings around it
Steven Bowyer, The Auckland Project’s Head of Regeneration, said: “The Kingsway Square development represents the opportunity to transform around 3,000m² of derelict land and disused buildings into a new vibrant public square and car park.
“It brings together a retail and residential development representing about £12m of private and public investment. Surrounded by buildings of historical significance, it will revitalise and repurpose the area as a place for people to visit, live, work, dine and shop.
“The outcome will be a truly mixed-use circular community in the heart of Bishop Auckland.”
Many of the buildings around the new park are being developed by Graham Thomas of Alka Developments. It is connected to Properties Unique in Newcastle which specialises in long-stay and tourist lets.
READ MORE: THE HISTORIC, BUT DERELICT, BUILDINGS THAT ARE GOING TO BECOME THE KINGSWAY QUARTER
Across four buildings in Bishop, including the Mechanics Institute and Masonic Hall which date from the 1870s and 1880s, Mr Thomas plans to create 25 apartments, with up to three bedrooms in each.
Scaffolding is already around the former Burtons building as it is converted into a smokehouse restaurant and craft brewery
“I live in Bishop Auckland and during lockdown I realised I could either sit on the couch and whinge about the state of the town or I could do something about it,” he said, “so I bought the Burtons store.
“But to do up one building was pointless so we have pushed for this area regeneration. It only works with all of the businesses going in at once.
“It has taken us three years to get this far and it is a bit of a risk. A few years ago, it would have flopped, but things are starting to happen now in Bishop Auckland.”
With the Faith museum in Auckland Castle to open this autumn, to go with the Market Place art galleries and the Kynren nightshow, he feels the town needs this high end, short term accommodation.
“We want to put Kingsway Quarter on the map and our plan is to create a location that is a must-see for visitors to Bishop Auckland by creating an area for tourists to stay on the upper floors and having top quality food and beverage offerings on the ground floors for tourists and locals,” he said. “This is more than just a development: we aim to create local jobs by using local contractors, and letting the commercial space to local businesses and not big high street names.”
The Burtons building, from the 1870s, is currently being prepared for Caps Off, a Bishop Auckland craft brewery, to turn into a smokehouse restaurant and beerhouse on the ground floor.
The former Three Bluebells pub which is to become a restaurant and the three storey Robinson's shoe shop which permission has been requested to demolish
And No 69, formerly Clark’s shoes, and No 71 Newgate Street, a mock-Tudor former pub in an advanced and disgusting state of disrepair, is to become a 40-cover restaurant for Mike Bartley, a local lad who was a contestant on Masterchef in 2021 and is now a private chef.
How the rear of the new restaurant will look from the new car park. Picture by architects Cellar Door of Richmond
The Northern Echo understands that negotiations involving other semi-derelict buildings around the new square are taking place.
The former Robinson's shoe shop (here after being occupied by Priceless) with No 63 to the left which are to be demolished to make way for the public square
The two buildings on Newgate Street, Nos 63 to 67, which are scheduled for demolition, if permission is granted, are a low modern building and a three storey shoe shop which for 120 years was the home of Robinson’s shoes. A third building behind the former pub is also to be cleared to make way for the car park.
David Maddan, chief executive officer of Auckland Project Developments, said: “The redevelopment of the Kingsway Quarter represents an important milestone in the regeneration of Bishop Auckland.
“The car park project was signed off by the Stronger Town Board this week and will be complete by Easter 2024.
“The £10m to £12m of privately funded investment around the newly created car park and green space is enabled by the Towns Fund investment and will transform this section of Newgate Street.”
In January 2022, The Northern Echo counted that there were 35 empty retail units in Newgate Street. In recent months, though, the STACK streetfood and cocktails development has been granted planning permission further north on an empty site Newgate Street, plus the local college has already begun to turn the old McIntyre’s shoe shop into a catering department with restaurant, so the face of Newgate Street could be about to undergo a once-in-a-generation change.
The Auckland Project’s application has the backing of Bishop Auckland Town Council, and Historic England are raising no objections to the demolition of the old shoe shop, which was run for 120 years by the Robinson family. The application is expected to be decided next month.
The Temperance, or Masonic, Hall in Victoria Avenue
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