Student flats plan for historic former corn mill and YMCA in Lancaster city centre

The five-storey property, in Fleet Square off New Road, has been empty since the YMCA moved out in 2023.

New owners MHO Mayar Ltd now want to turn the building into 18 residential studios for students.

The building is a Grade II Listed structure and also lies within the City Conservation Area.

As a result, it would require listed building consent alongside any planning permission.

The building is a former corn mil and warehouse constructed in about 1881, which operated under various owners until W & J Pye ceased trading in 1997.

James Bibby, owner and operator of Conder Mill at Quernmore, bought a warehouse on the site of the present building in 1865, from which he could market his flour and animal feed.

In about 1881 his company, J Bibby & Sons, replaced the warehouse with the present building.

The new structure was to be equipped with milling and crushing equipment which would be turned by a gas engine, but the business enjoyed such success that in 1885 it opened a new, larger mill in Liverpool, perhaps fortuitously as Conder Mill burned down in the same year.

The Liverpool facility then became the focus of their enterprise, and they transferred all the milling machinery from Lancaster to it in 1888, and the vacated Fleet Square premises were then taken over by William and John Pye, who conducted their own corn and feed merchants' business from it.

The Pyes' business continued to expand during the 20th century, when they themselves began to operate from larger premises on St George's Quay, but they retained the Fleet Square building for office and warehousing until they vacated it in 1997.

The building then lay unused until it was bought in 2001 by the YMCA for their own occupation.

They remained until last year, when the building was offered for sale on the open market and was subsequently acquired by MHO Mayar.

The plans will now go before the Lancaster City Council planning committee.