A historic York hotel is planning a major expansion by taking over two nearby buildings.

Daniel Thwaites PLC, who operate the Judge’s Lodging at 9 Lendal, seek to change the use of Lendal House and the Joseph Terry House into a hotel.

The application, if approved, would increase bed numbers from 21 to 34, with staffing up from 60 to 75.

It follows Thwaites in November receiving planning approval for an upgrade to Lady Anne Middleton’s Hotel in York, which it also owns.

The Grade I-listed Judges Lodging was originally built as a house for York physician Dr Clifton Wintringham in 1711-27.  

It became a hotel in the 1970s and Thwaites bought it in 2012 and spent £2m creating a “flagship 5-star operation” and “thriving pub/hotel.”

Now, Thwaites plans a “substantial” further investment to “secure the long-term future of these heritage assets.”

The application to City of York Council says Thwaites bought the vacant three-storey Joseph Terry House in 2016 and in 2021 the four-storey Lendal House to the southeast “for expansion purposes.”

Lendal House is Grade II-listed from the late 19th Century and was recently used as a Jack Wolfskin store.

The Grade II-listed Joseph Terry House, which had been used by Robert Berry and William Blaydon, who created Terry’s of York, “is vacant and in a state of disrepair.”

The Judges Lodging building would see improved back of hotel facilities and temporary huts erected during the pandemic replaced with a permanent structure, which can be subdivided into smaller rooms or used as one for weddings.

Planning documents continued: “There is little need for the type of [office] accommodation currently offered by Lendal House in the centre of York, and Joseph Terry House has been unused for several years. Alterations are inevitable to ensure the future of these heritage assets.”

The changes aimed to ensure most original features are retained to limit historical damage, whilst ensuring fire safety and adapting the buildings to changing needs, they added.

The application concluded Daniel Thwaites PLC were “committed” to the Judge’s Lodging and its business plan. The plans would allow the business to “expand and continue to improve their offer to guests and non-guests.”

They would also “restore and help conserve Lendal House and Joseph Terry House and enhance the existing hotel and dining offering at the Judge’s Lodging.”

It said: “The application will deliver a much-improved facility that will increase the choice and quality of visitor accommodation and encourage overnight stays, particularly by high spending visitors.

“There is an adequate supply of office space in the city in both quantitative and qualitative terms, further justification for the loss of longstanding office space.”

Therefore, the plans met local and national policies by enhancing and preserving heritage assets, contributing to the conservation area, giving no heritage or planning grounds for refusal.