A weekly newspaper’s former office is set to be turned into a cocktail bar and apartments after being sold by Johnston Press.
The Whitby Gazette’s former harbourside offices were put up for sale in 2013 and staff from the paper moved out last November.
The asking price for the Grade II listed building was originally £395,000 but this was reduced to £325,000.
Work has now begun on transforming the building, pictured below, into a cocktail bar, a two-bedroomed flat and a three-bedroomed maisonette after planning permission was granted earlier this year.
Staff from the Gazette, which were based at the building for around 35 years, are now based at smaller premises in the town at St Hilda’s Business Centre.
Their former building was put up for sale by Johnston Press at around the same time as editor Jon Stokoe was made redundant in 2013, shortly after the paper posted a 2.1pc sales rise.
Jon tweeted: “Wonder when that great old Whitby Gazette building is open for cocktails.”
The planning application for the building was made by B& N Property in November and was granted permission in February.
The cocktail bar will be on the lower and ground floor, with the flat on the first floor and the maisonette on the second and attic floor.
A report by a planning officer, which recommended its approval, said: “The restoration and bringing back into use of these vacant premises should enhance the appearance of the area and add to vitality in this town centre location.”
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‘I was tired of my publisher, we’d been together too long
Like a worn-out recording of a favourite song
So while he lay there ranting, I read my paper in bed
And in the personal columns there was this letter I read.
‘If you like Piña Coladas, getting caught in the rain
If you’re not into yoga, if you have half a brain
If you hate working hard till midnight in the dunes on the cape
I’m the PR job you’ve looked for, write to me and escape…’
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There is something rather appropriate about turning former newspapers into licensed premises. The same happened to one of my old offices – the bar was built in what used to be Photographic.
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Of the many newspaper offices I’ve worked in over the last half century, all but two have either been demolished, left empty or converted into something else.
One was knocked down to be replaced by a shopping centre.
The second was demolished to make way for a leisure development.
The third and fourth still survive as newspaper offices.
The fifth, in Fleet Street, now has a ‘To Let’ sign emblazoned across its facade.
The sixth has a been swept away to make way for an industrial complex.
The seventh – in London – now accommodates a holiday firm.
The eighth and ninth stand empty awaiting new occupants or redevelopment.
The tenth and eleventh have both been knocked down to make way for cut-price superstores.
This does’t say a lot for the state of the newspaper industry – or, indeed, of my impact upon it.
I seem to have left nought but rubble in my wake. Just as well I’m now out of it, I suppose.
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