PLANS to turn the Listed building where David Hockney honed his craft into a restaurant are to be discussed by Councillors next week.

One of the grandest empty buildings in Bradford, the Grove Library is the former Bradford Regional College of Art, which produced the acclaimed group of artists known as the Bradford Mafia that included Hockney.

More recently it was the library for Bradford College, but since that facility was moved into the new build David Hockney Building, this building has remained redundant.

For years there have been proposals for the building to become the flagship branch of Lala's Restaurant.

However, an application to convert the building into a restaurant, first floor conference facility and "sky lounge cafe" was refused by Bradford Council in 2020, partly over concerns that this use would bring a huge amount of traffic to the already busy stretch of Great Horton Road.

Over 10,000 people visit Hockney Gallery at Cartwright Hall in its first month

The plans were re-submitted by the restaurant chain, along with a transport statement that pointed out the building was near the city centre and had plenty of public transport links.

But highways officers at the Council continued to raise concerns, arguing that the combined restaurant, conference facility and cafe would require around 116 parking spaces.

The applicants have since scaled back the plans, and now the application is just for a ground floor restaurant with mezzanine level.

This amended application will go before Bradford Council's Bradford Area Planning Panel on Wednesday.

Bradford's textile past celebrated in new Inkerwoven project

Members will be advised to approve the plans, with officers claiming they have been scaled back enough to make them acceptable.

A report to the panel points out that while the restaurant would lead to an increase in traffic, any use for the building would do the same.

The Council's Conservation Officers says while the outside of the building has retained its grandeur, the inside has been "comprehensively re-modelled" by previous generations, and any period features were likely lost in the 1970s.

The report says; "In considering this application, it is important attach significant weight to the need to introduce a new use into this prominent Grade II Listed Building within a Conservation Area before it falls into disrepair.

"It must also be acknowledged that this is substantial building and any new use would likely place greater pressure on on-street parking in the vicinity of the site than the previous use as a library connected to Bradford College.

"Whilst the site is not in the City Centre it is undeniably in a sustainable location being close to the University and College, on a 10-minute bus route and within walking distance of the City Centre."

If members approve the plans, they will be asked to impose a condition that means the restaurant can only open between 5pm and 11pm on weekdays and 1pm to 11pm on weekends.