One of Holbeck’s last mills to be demolished:

We are truly down to the last few remnants of old Holbeck now. One of the last remaining clusters of the old red brick industry of South Leeds for miles around looks like it will be lost. Lessons learned from the successful heritage-led regeneration of Water Lane in the South of the City would hopefully convince the Council that they should fight for this building and bring together a masterplan.

The building is in a conservation area, and to their credit, Leeds Council’s heritage team strongly oppose this demolition. Indeed the very shape of the conservation area has clearly been mapped out to include all of the remaining Victorian Stock Holbeck. To ignore the designation would be malpractice.

Roughly dating from circa 1827 this former flax mill has eolved to include some impressive strutural buttresses that have resulted in a unique form. A testament to a lost culture of modifying buildings rather than flattening them.

It would cost a lot to regenerate this building as a residential development, but it has been done successfully (and profitably) with Hunslet Mills on the canal.

I sincerely hope this application is resisted.