Proposals to convert most of a former bank into eight flats have been unveiled - more than a year after it served its last customer.
London-based KMP Solutions has applied for planning permission to breathe new life into the old Barclays bank building in Gosport High Street.
Opened in the 1970s, it closed on April 26 last year as Barclays and other banks continued to axe branches across the country.
The three-storey property forms part of the High Street Conservation Area.
If the KMP scheme is approved by the borough council, the upper storeys will be converted into flats and the ground floor vault will become a bike and bin store. A new commercial use will be found for the rest of the ground floor.
Plans to convert the former Barclays bank in Gosport High Street into eight flats have been submitted (Image: Newsquest)
Gosport was badly bombed during the Second World War but some of the town's most historic buildings survived.
A heritage statement that accompanies the KMP application says: "This area retains many buildings that make a significant contribution to the conservation area.
"Particularly notable are the former Star Inn, the Church of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Lloyd’s Bank, and the Grade II-listed former theatre.
"New developments in the area will need to be especially sensitive to the scale, design, and detailing of the historic buildings.
"The council have produced a conversation area appraisal which outlines the historic development of the area, and its character and appearance, in order that key attributes are understood and can be protected and measures put in place to ensure appropriate enhancement."
Gosport Borough Council will decide the application to turn a former Barclays bank in the High Street into eight flats (Image: Newsquest)
The statement says the former bank's windows will be upgraded and the "dated" frontage replaced.
It highlights the government's decision to promote the conversion of vacant commercial buildings into flats, adding: "This proposal is an opportunity for the local authority to promote good quality design which is both sympathetic and enhancing to the conservation area, providing much-needed residential use to a highly sustainable area.
"Overall, the proposal will preserve the interest and significance of the identified heritage assets."
New uses have also been found for other disused banks in Hampshire.
A former HSBC building in Hythe has been converted into a shoe shop and plans to turn a vacant bank in Lymington into a restaurant have been given the go-ahead. An application to convert a former Lloyds facility in Lyndhurst into a shop and three flats has also been approved.
A former TSB bank on Southampton’s High Street is now a bingo hall following a proposal submitted in 2022.
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