Betfred boss Fred Done is onto a winner with his plans to convert the derelict Black Friar Inn into two new 12 and 16-storey towerblocks.
The Grade II-listed pub at the corner of Trinity Way and Blackfriars Road has been vacant since the early 1990s.
Done, through his firm FICM Ltd, wants to build two towerblocks with 380 one, two and three-bed apartments, with the Grade II-listed Black Friar Inn absorbed into the development.
The pub would become the main entrance into the scheme and provide communal facilities such as a resident’s party room.
It’s thought the former Boddington’s coaching inn was rebuilt in 1886 on the site of an original pub called the Old School Inn, although historical documentation is difficult to come by.
It was designed by William Ball and still contains many historical features noted by English Heritage, including a slate roof in the Vernacular Revival style, gabled bays to the exterior, sashed tripartite windows, a stone canted oriel with mullions and transom, and a band on the corbel with the words: “YOU MAY GO FURTHER AND FARE WORSE”.
Salford City Council planners have recommended to approve the development when they meet this week.
Included in the development, designed by Manchester architects 5Plus, are plans for five town houses with front doors on Garden Street and a new public square with seating and an orchard.
