New hotel and spa plans at site of former JR Taylor store in St Annes move another step closer

Back in March 2023, a planning application was granted to turn the former JR Taylor department store and the neighbouring HSBC bank in St Annes into a spa, restaurant, bar and hotel.

20 months later and finally it looks like the plans are well underway as the first new planning application for the site has been submitted to Fylde Borough Council.

On Friday, a retrospective planning application for the former JR Taylor department store located at 4-12 Garden Street, was submitted seeking the “demolition and reconstruction of 1st and 2nd floor elevations to St Annes Road West, Garden Street and St Georges Lane”.

As passers-by will of course know, the application form confirms that work on the elevations has already begun, but work has not been completed.

The applicant, a representative from the building’s owners Corbenyah Properties, explains that demolition of the existing elevations was required as the “existing building was found to be structurally unsafe.”

The planning drawings show the proposed elevation on the Garden Street side’s ground floor feature a black hatched facade housing bay windows with the logo ‘The Sanctuary’ written in white letters above it.

This hatched facade with bay windows continue along the side facing St Annes Road West with the same ‘The Sanctuary’ logo design above it. 

A very similar logo is then apparent on a sign displayed on the first floor of the elevation facing St George’s Lane.

The listed former HSBC Bank, which is unaffected by the present application proposals, is however pictured in the drawings as having the words ‘Sanctuary Spa’ above the front door, without a black backdrop.

The application’s heritage statement explains that this further application has had to be submitted as “additional operational works…have been undertaken in the course of construction [that] fall outside those agreed within the terms of approved application 23/143”

The heritage statement also states that the corner of the building concerned in the application “is of the Edwardian baroque revival style and is now well over a hundred years old”, adding “it must be stressed at the outset that whilst large elements of the façade have been demolished, it is the intention to fully reconstruct them to their original configuration and appearance, as implicit within the plans submitted and approved within the parent application.”

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The parent application, which you can read more about here, involves the construction of a spa at the basement level; a restaurant, bar and spa entrance on the ground floor; ancillary offices, staff rooms, massage rooms and spa dining on the first floor; a VIP bar at second floor and a rooftop bar at the third floor level.

A consultation period for the new planning application has now begun and is due to end on December 5.

To comment on the proposal or to read more check the Fylde Borough Council website here.