The 17th century building in the Market Place in Bungay has been closed since at least 2018 and had formerly been known as The Swan Inn, The White Swan, and Swanson’s.
Now new plans have been submitted to East Suffolk Council to turn the building into an art gallery and home spread over three floors.
The planning application said: “The proposed gallery presents a reasonably sized space within the confines of the Listed Building to provide a viable business, premises, which is larger in size than other thriving galleries in Halesworth and Southwold,
“Whilst also providing an on site residence of adequate size required for the applicants’ own residential use.”
The applicants are Benji and Jo Howell.
The plans show a gallery to the front of the building with a new single-storey studio/store to be constructed at the rear of the property where historic outbuildings once stood.
The build will utilise traditional materials and a poor-quality modern window will be replaced to match the original.
Pre-application advice from the council said: “A change of use is supported in principal, if it can provide a sustainable use for the building, and if any physical alterations associated with the change of use preserve the character of the building and any features of historic significance.”
A previously approved scheme for a microbrewery was approved in 2020 for the grade II listed building but never went ahead, leaving the site vacant for years.
A document submitted with the new application states the internal alterations would reinforce the building’s “historic character” and the added elements would “enhance the listed building, attaching to it in a streamlined and reversable fashion”.
The bid is expected to be determined by April.
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