Plan to demolish former Workington bingo hall for flats

11th March 2010

Plans to pull down one of Workington’s historic buildings have been unveiled. Graves (Cumberland) Ltd wants to build apartments and shops on the site of the Opera House, on Tiffen Lane. The company has applied for outline planning permission to demolish the former bingo hall, built in the late 1800s.

Managing director Vince Hughes said that two town centre shops in that block, Supanews and the British Heart Foundation, could be affected by the move, but insisted nothing was set in stone. He said: “The building is in a poor state of repair and we need to bring it down. We have plans to create more apartments in its place and the outline planning permission also states that shops could be created. There is land at the back of the building that we would like to make use of and to get to it we need to start again.”

People can submit their views about the plans to Allerdale council until March 26.

Workington and District Civic Trust was due to hold a meeting last night (10 March) to discuss the plans. Chairman Anne Burton said she would comment on the plans after she had met with the other members.

Source: Times and Star