Planning application to turn Willoughby’s Bar and Club in Stamford into apartments submitted to South Kesteven District Council

A planning application has been submitted to turn a nightclub and shops into apartments - but the owner of the building says no changes are imminent.

The Pistolas family is seeking permission from South Kesteven District Council to convert the downstairs bar and upstairs nightclub of Willoughby’s in Stamford into seven apartments.

The building also houses a number of shops including Corals, Cuts and More, Healthy Hearing and UTS Electrical.

The majority of accommodation would be located on the first floor, which is currently the nightclub, with windows facing onto Silver Lane.

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Six of the apartments would be two-bedroom, with a further one-bedroom space, and the art deco-style building would keep the same appearance from the street.

The design and access statement, which forms part of the planning application, says: “Change of use of the existing building is required due to changing lifestyle habits.

“The nightclub use is no longer a sustainable long-term use for the building.”

It added the conversion to apartments would benefit the area in a number of ways including removing noise and disruption potentially caused by the nightclub and creating ‘much-needed, and desirable town centre accommodation’.

Owner of Willoughby’s Nick Pistolas said the application is nothing more than ‘speculative planning to gauge reaction’.

“The planning permission is sought for the long-term future plans for the building,” he said.

“There is nothing imminent and it doesn’t affect the club operation whatsoever for the next few years at least.”

While the business - which hosts DJs every weekend - was closed throughout the pandemic alterations were made to the venue.

This included reinstating the former Central nightclub entrance in Silver Lane, rather than through the bar doors in Broad Street.

The downstairs bar is currently available to rent through Richardson Surveyors as a retail premises for £24,000 a year.

Terms set by the owner mean catering businesses wouldn’t be allowed to rent the space.

The site of the Willoughby’s building, which stands on the corner of Silver Lane, has an interesting history, having started out as a showroom for the Blackstone Oil Engine Company.

It was then refitted as a cinema in 1926, but caught fire in 1937 - one of three cinemas in Stamford to burn down in little more than a decade.

A specialist cinema architect, George Coles, was brought in from London to rebuild the cinema in its current art deco style.

It showed its final film in January 1989.

The building then stood empty before being turned into a nightclub which opened in 1994. For many years it was called Central before being renamed Willoughby’s.

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