A LANDMARK former warehouse – now home to Burnley’s seafood distributor – could be set for a 21st century look if new proposals find favour with borough planners.

For the past 68 years, the sandstone building in Canning Street has been used by fishmongers, and has been a constant feature in a rapidly evolving corner of the town centre.

MORE TOP STORIES:

Bosses at AO Seafoods, who have been based there for the past 15 years, now want to build a substantial extension to boost their operation, which employs at least 19 people full time and usually trades between 9am and 4pm.

Planning agent Alan Kinder said in a report: “The heritage assessment of the warehouse building confers a low or minimal heritage significance when evaluated against evidential value, historical value, aesthetic value and communal value.”

Traditional materials such as a natural stone base were set to be used, though the timber and glass elements of the extension would give the overall building a more modern outlook, added Mr Kinder.

He said that issues surrounding access to the site had now been resolved with Lancashire County Council’s highways section and stressed that the extension should be viewed in relation to its surroundings, including the new Burnley College campus opposite.

Building archaeologist Stephen Haigh said: “It has no distinguishing historic features, but it does have a number of modern aspects to its appearance.

“Despite these, it does retain historic character in general terms, by virtue of its general proportions and stone-faced elevations.

“However I do not feel that its visual appearance is of such quality that the proposed extension would detract from its heritage significance.”

Before it was adopted by fishmongers, there is evidence that the former warehouse, which is thought to have been constructed between the 1840s and 1890s, was occupied by a coal dealer and “tinner”. It was in the shadow of the sprawling Bankhouse Iron Works.