A YOUNG entrepreneur is seeking official permission to continue to operate a town centre hotel and expand it into the listed building next door.

Waqas Ishtiaq of Property firm Nextoria currently runs the 13-bedroomed budget King's Hotel, Blackburn.

In December 2021 his bid to win planning permission for the business and extend it into the adjoining Georgian Hornby House with 20 more was turned down.

Now following consultations with Blackburn with Darwen Council planners he has made a second bid for official approval.

He has applied for part-backdated permission to use 39 and 41 King Street as a hotel with 33 bedrooms, including use of ground floor for ancillary hotel reception/breakfast/lounge/games room and retention of manager’s accommodation to the rear.

The King's Hotel has continued to operate and the premises currently have approval for an events space, boxing club, and coffee bar.

The 2021 refusal notice said: "The development fails to accord with the council's strategic town centre objective by virtue of low demand and low-cost bed and breakfast accommodation of a type that will have a negative impact on the character and function of the town centre and which evidently results in anti-social outcomes."

The linked refusal of list building consent for Hornby House - which has a blue plaque commemorating the birthplace of AN Hornby, who captained England at both cricket and rugby and was a Blackburn Rovers player - said: "The proposed alterations fail to respect and correspond to the inherent internal character of the building."

A supporting statement submitted with it says: "The current applications are partly retrospective in that the building has been in use for a hotel over the past two years.

"The hotel is staffed 24 hours of the day with the applicant personally managing operations on the day shift;comprehensive CCTV coverage operates both inside and outside the hotel; checked in guests have coded entry; strict check in-times operate with last admission at 11pm; a state-of-the art electronic system manages all bookings; and housekeeping staff are employed everyday.

"The recent operation of the hotel has demonstrated that the previous concerns over anti-social behaviour and crime have been addressed.

"The physical alterations to the building are necessary and will have limited impact on the heritage asset.

"The hotel use will support the maintenance of the heritage asset and will help to provide a sustainable future for the listed buildings.

"The hotel is being operated and managed proactively to ensure its social acceptability."

If the new application is refused it is likely the council will seek to close the hotel unless Mr Ishtiaq appeals the decision.