One of York’s landmark hotels is seeking a long-delayed four-storey extension.

The Principal Hotel by York Station has applied to City of York Council to build the 41-bed extension after previous approvals expired.

Approval was first granted in 2016 and then in 2019, but they were put on hold due to the pandemic.

The Grade II-listed hotel presently has 122 beds in the main building and 35 in the garden wing.

Global hotel chain IHG, who operate the Holiday Inn, amid other brands, bought the hotel from Starwood in 2018 and put in place a long-term strategy “aimed at repositioning The Principal York Hotel as a leading luxury lifestyle destination.”

Last year, RBH management took over the running of the hotel, and they aim to deliver the development plans, adding hotel occupancy is returning to pre-Covid levels.

The hotel, first erected as the Station Hotel in 1878 to serve the new York station, has been extended several times since, with a major refurbishment completed in 2014.

The previous management focussed on the conference market, which will remain important.

Planning documents continued: “The main motivation for the Bedroom Extension is to meet extra demand on the conference business without detracting from Principal York Hotel’s new lifestyle focus.”

The application says the project will achieve this with an independent reception for conference users, and reconfiguring the car park and restoring the existing gardens. On-site parking will decrease from 60 to 32 spaces.

The design and siting of the new building will also “maximise views over the ornate gardens, and towards the historic city walls.”

It will also turn away from Leeman Road to “reduce visual impact from the street” and “reconnect the Conference Centre and Garden Wing back to the gardens and Main Building.”

The application also said the hotel is due for a refurbishment this year, which is “considered the first in a suite of projects aimed at reinstating the grandeur of the Royal York Hotel.”

It concluded: “The visual impact assessment demonstrated that the proposed development would not affect the setting of the Grade II listed building, particularly the formal gardens.

“It was also considered that the proposed development would not impact the character and appearance of the conservation area.

“The proposed development seeks to maintain sustainable, viable use of the listed building by rationalising access throughout the hotel complex, and in this case providing a designated entrance and enhanced facilities for conferencing, additional bedrooms and other facilities; separating these facilities from the main hotel building allows for the sensitive refurbishment proposals to the listed building, revealing its heritage values. The proposals comply with national and local planning policy.”