Plans submitted to begin £400,000 extension at The Angel and Royal in Grantham into former Halifax bank

Plans have been submitted to begin an extension at a town’s oldest hotel.

Dean Harrison, owner of The Angel and Royal in Grantham, has submitted plans to South Kesteven District Council to create a doorway between the hotel and the former Halifax bank next door.

If approved, it sets the way for £400,000 refurbishments to take place including extending the hotel’s dining service, opening a late night drinks space and a function room with a bar, stage and a dance floor for up to 60 people.

Dean said: “My fantastic local architect, Michael Ellison has pulled out all the stops to get this application in quickly and I am hopeful that it will progress at pace so that we can start the work sooner rather than later should the application for change of use be successful.

“I am also working with a local designer called Richie Maughan and we have already planned out how the space will look in principle with a bar, dance area, small stage area and new stairway just inside the entrance up to the first floor for the other event space.

“Everything depends on getting the go ahead from planning though and English heritage will also be involved as I intend knocking through from our existing kitchens into a space at the end of the bank building where we will build another kitchen for the restaurant.

“As The Angel and Royal is Grade I listed, there are quite a few hoops to jump through so far as permission for going through the fabric of the building but I am fairly confident that where we need to knock through will be acceptable considering it is hidden from the public in the kitchen area and will have no visible impact on this very historical building.

“I am very keen to see the space transformed into a viable space that will allow the business to grow and prosper so that its future is guaranteed for many years to come.”

The application states a doorway between the two buildings “needs to be created to allow the existing kitchen to service these new spaces”.

Historically, there have been doorways and still are entrances at the back of the building into what was previously an open space before the bank was created in the 1960s.

If approved, the extended service could create 20 to 25 jobs, alongside the 45 already employed at the hotel.