Former Leeds lapdancing bar to become restaurant and flats

Leeds City Council planning chiefs have given the green light for the old Deep Blue lapdancing building to be renovated, more than six years after shutting down.

The building, which operated as the lapdancing bar until late 2013, is set to be converted into a bar, restaurant and two serviced apartments.

A council report claimed the building was seen as a “heritage asset” and that the plans would add to the character of the area.

It added the building was an “attractive historic part of a wider terrace” which contains a number of listed buildings within a conservation area and, while the building is not listed, is considered to be a heritage asset.

The report stated: “These uses would all be appropriate town centre uses for this city centre site, which sits on a main arterial route in to the city centre. The uses have the potential to add to and enhance the vitality and vibrancy of the day time and evening economies of Leeds City Centre.”

The layout of the site would involve using the basement as a beer store and customer toilets, while the ground would be fitted out with a kitchen, bar and restaurant seating areas.

It is also proposed to use flat roof at the back of the building as a roof terrace.

Floors two and three, which sit at the front of the building above the roof terrace on the first floor, include two serviced apartments accessed from a small lobby off the main staircase.

The report added the inner walls would be “stripped back to the building’s original masonry, which will be cleaned and made good”.

It claimed, however, that Leeds Civic Trust had expressed concerns around plans to put a “fully glazed frontage” on the ground floor, and that this would create a “strange building form”

The report stated, however: “It is considered that the proposed alterations would compliment rather than compete with the heritage setting and would not result in any visual harm to the character and appearance of the host building, the street scene or the said conservation area.

“The proposals are considered to be acceptable and as such are recommended for approval.”

Permission was granted for the work this week.

Deep Blue was shut down by Leeds City Council in December 2013, following a crackdown on the number of lapdancing venues in the city, whcih also saw Red Leopard and Wildcats, on The Headrow, shut down.