Tower of strength (From Gazette & Herald)

Tower of strength

AN HISTORIC riverside tower dating back more than 600 years could be transformed into one of York's most romantic restaurants.

The distinctive Lendal Tower and adjacent buildings are set to go on the market with a price tag of more than £1 million.

Its current owners, Keyland Developments, which inherited the site four years ago, believe it would be an ideal location for a restaurant, combined with office or residential space.

The tower is a Grade II Listed Building, which dates back to the 14th century, and originally served as a defensive emplacement.

It was later adapted to a waterworks, before being transformed into boardroom accommodation for York Waterworks, and then its head office.

But since being acquired by Yorkshire Water in 1999 it has been little-used, so Keyland Developments - the sister company of Yorkshire Water - decided to breathe new life into the tower, the adjacent engine house, Lendal Hill House and associated land, by putting it on the market.

Keyland's managing director, David Brimblecombe, said it was arguably the "best riverside location in the city".

He said: "The most obvious idea for its future use would be a riverside restaurant run by some sort of celebrity chef.

"But whoever develops the site is going to have to be very sensitive to its historic surroundings.

"Lendal Tower has always been a working building and one which occupies a unique place in the history of York.

"The proposed sale will breathe new life into the site, and early discussions with both City of York Council and the Yorkshire Museum have been positive.

"We are proud of the history of Lendal Tower and its long association with the water industry, but it's now time for the building to have a bright future as well as a historic past."

Mr Brimblecombe said he would prefer to see the tower under the ownership of a company or developer who could "fully and imaginatively realise the undoubted potential of the site for the benefit of the city".

A pumping station within the tower, worked by two horses, supplied water to the citizens of York for many years.

In 1779, the waterworks was sold to Jerome Dring for £7,000, raised through the issue of 28 shares, one of the four shareholders being John Smeaton of Eddystone Lighthouse fame.

In 1846, the new York Waterworks Company was formed by Act of Parliament, to better supply the city and neighbourhood of York with water abstracted from the River Ouse upstream of the city at Acomb Landing, the site of the present treatment works.

Updated: 08:13 Wednesday, January 28, 2004