Restaurant plan for riverside mansion house

Plans to turn a historic Grade I listed mansion into a restaurant have been submitted.

A planning application to convert Cumberland House, on the corner of Cumberland Street and King's Staith in York, has been put forward by the owners of neighbouring venue Lil's Bar and Bistro.

Originally built around 1710 for York's Lord mayor and Sheriff William Cornwall, it has most recently been used as office space.

A previous application to convert the property into a house was turned down by City of York Council over the potential flood risk.

According to the latest application, the development would secure the building's future, allow necessary repairs to take place and prevent further serious deterioration.

It states: "The building is within an area which regularly floods, and the fabric of the building is in need of urgent repairs to prevent further degradation.

"Due to the prominent positioning of the asset within the city centre it is susceptible to antisocial behaviour if it continues to be left vacant.

"Therefore, the building is at risk of further serious deterioration in its condition."

It follows the submission of an application to licence the building for alcohol sales in January.

That application, from Lil's Bar and Bistro owners Shaun Robert Binns and Jamie-Leigh Binns, stated the proposed restaurant would seat up to 30 people and would operate daily between 08:00 and 00:30.

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