Calverley's historic Holly Park Mill restored into commercial hub for businesses

A historic textile mill in Calverley has been restored and refurbished to become a new commercial hub for businesses.

Holly Park Mill, in Woodhall Road, dates back to 1866 and spans across 2.9 acres of land.

Rob Thompson, Matt Welsh and former owner, Graham Yaffe of of Anglia Textile Manufacturers Ltd.

placeholder image — Rob Thompson, Matt Welsh and former owner, Graham Yaffe of of Anglia Textile Manufacturers Ltd.

The site was transformed into commercial office space in the 1990s with the decline of the textile sector.

It was purchased in October 2020 by Matt Welsh, founder of furniture company Naughtone and Rob Thompson, a qualified chartered surveyor and commercial property expert.

Matt Welsh, with Hub's Chris Hudson and the Hub team.

Since then, the pair have begun a programme of sympathetic renovation of the mill complex, which will see the demolition of an unusable building dating from the 1970s to create additional space for car parking with charging points for electric vehicles.

Mr Welsh said: !We have exciting plans to refurbish older buildings on the site to create much needed out of town office and creative space for SMEs, adding to the mill’s story whilst preserving its history in order to support early-stage businesses and offer flexible space for growing companies.

“We are passionate about making Holly Park Mill a place where future generations of creative entrepreneurs can grow and develop.”

The mill is currently home to 15 companies and offers more than 80,000 sq ft of commercial office space.

Hub's very small team pictured when it first moved into Hub in 2007.

Its tenants range across a number of sectors, including creative, food and drink, automotive, recruitment and interior design.

Hub, an integrated marketing agency, recently agreed a new five-year lease at the historic site.

Co-founder Chris Hudson said: "Holly Park Mill has always been the perfect location for Hub. It has supported our growth perfectly, especially in areas such as photography and production where we have created dedicated studios.

“As a business we are all about recruiting the very best people. And there’s no doubt that being based at Holly Park Mill enables us to do that. Not only is it set in a lovely out of town location, the range of great businesses based here also encourages collaboration, helping us to continually improve the services we offer.

“We are looking forward to our next successful chapter, supported by Matt, Rob and the Holly Park Mill team.”