A NIGHTCLUB in Burnley which has been empty for more than a decade could be given a new lease of life as part of the town centre’s fledgling apartments revolution.

Plans have been unveiled to convert the old Graffiti Club, in Bethesda Street, into 11 flats over two floors of the former night spot, next to the Burnley United Reformed Church.

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If approved, the scheme would become the latest licensed premises to be overhauled in the past 12 months, with ongoing work to transform the former Bee’s Knees bar in Hammerton Street into shops with living accommodation above.

Planning agent Michael Crosby said: “This development will bring the building back into use at the upper floor levels, consequently the external appearance will be improved and it will contribute to enhancing the street scene.”

He has stressed to borough planners that the property, because of its former purpose, is already substantially soundproofed at the first floor level. Their other immediate neighbour is the Chinese Buffet restaurant.

The ground floor portion of the old club only housed the former ticket booth, a private office and a beer cellar and would be reconfigured into an entrance hall and storage facilities for residents.

Nine of the apartments would be located on the first floor, around a central corridor, where the club, bar and DJ booth were once positioned, with two further homes created on the much smaller second floor above, which was only used for storage.

The club had been on the market for a number of years, at a prospective annual rent of £15,000, without any firm takers.

One former regular, Pete Johnson, said: “Fairly soon there won’t be any of the old clubs left in Burnley – but that’s just a sign of the times I suppose.

“Even what used to be the Concert Club, around the corner, has been closed down now.”

The former Garden Bar, which also traded as Guys as Dolls, has also been turned into a Baltic restaurant and hair salon, leaving the Cross Keys as the only pub on the bottom end of St James Street.