Rooftop lounge planned at former Penistone bank building

The plans to transform the building, which ceased trading as a bank last year, come in addition to a new bar nearby and long-held plans to open a community-run micro pub, with premises in the nearby High Street already identified as a potential location.

Those developments come after years of decline in the traditional pub industry, which have seen several traditional outlets in the vicinity closed and converted to offices, flats and other purposes.

Plans for the Nat West building, in Market Street, would leave the building – which is in a conservation area – largely unchanged externally.

Documents submitted to Barnsley Council as part of a planning application state the building’s flat roof needs replacing and it is proposed to create a rooftop lounge – a feature said to appeal to the proposed clientelle of the new business – while that work is being done.

It would have a surrounding barrier of glass panels, which would minimise the impact of the change on the surrounding environment.

Documents for the scheme highlight that empty buildings across the street in St Mary’s Road have recently been granted planning permission to create apartments upstairs, with retail space and a bar at street level.

The application has been submitted by Mr M Rodgers, who lives in the area. A decision on whether to approve the proposals will be made later.

Meanwhile, plans have also been submitted to create a Champagne bar in Barnsley town centre.

Planners are being asked to consider a change of use for the outlet currently known as Treat, described as an ice cream shop in planning papers, to create a wine and Champagne bar, covering ground floor and basement levels of the building.

The change would involve alterations to the shopfront and because it affects the setting of a Listed building in conservation area, planning permission is needed to cover that change.