PLANS to revitalise historic Keighley town centre pub the Commercial have been agreed.

Bradford Council approved the planning application for new signs and fascia for the Grade II listed building on Church Street.

Earlier this year Ei Publican Partnerships, which owns the pub, submitted plans to the council for a new hanging sign, fascia, plaques and panels, but in May withdrew them.

A revised application for the Commercial Hotel was submitted in June, and approved after receiving no objections. Keighley Town Council expressed support for the application.

Ei also proposed internal alterations to the Commercial, including a new bar servery, internal decoration on the ground floor, first and second floor refurbishment, rearranged toilets and a replacement smoking shelter.

The company told the council planners that the current living conditions in the pub were “incredibly poor” and not fit for purpose.

Their statement said: “Sensitive plaster and joinery repairs and required in addition to the installation of new kitchen and bathroom, redecoration, new flooring and internal fire doors to meet the latest safety recommendations.”

The layout of the pub will not alter.

District councillor Abid Hussain, whose Keighley Central ward includes the Commercial, welcomed that the planned work would not mean a massive change for the pub. He said: “This pub has been there a long time and it’s good application to get it back open. Church Street is quite busy, especially on Friday and Saturday, so it gives people of all ages the chance to get a drink.”

Central ward councillor Khadim Hussain said he would welcome the project if the Commercial was still a hotel, to create much-needed visitor accommodation in the town centre.

But he said: “If it’s just a pub I wonder if there’s any need for it. We are saturated in the town, and pub businesses are struggling.”

The Commercial is an 18th-century inn, grade II listed in the 1980s, that falls within the Keighley Conservation Area and is opposite Keighley Shared Church and Church Green.

Council planners accepted that the proposal for the Commercial would not impact on amenity or public safety in Church Street.

The Commercial closed in January this year, and at the time Ei said talks were being held with the licensee of the premises over it reopening for business. The company’s intention was that the Commercial would continue to trade as a pub.

According to Keighley and District Local History Society, the pub may have been built on the site of a previous inn run by Robert Ingleson, which was there in 1725.

After his death, in 1751, his daughter Alice took over the business until she married Thomas Cockshott in 1759, when it would have passed into his ownership.

The Commercial Inn’s closure followed a year in which three other town pubs were either shut or confirmed as having no prospect of re-opening. These included the Burlington Arms, in Market Street, the Globe, in Parkwood Street and The Star, in North Street. Since 2005, at least eight other Keighley pubs have shut, but roughly 30 pubs and bars continue to trade in Keighley and Oakworth.