By John Baron
Revised plans for eight hew homes have been approved at the site of the former Upstairs Downstairs nightclub in Armley.
The proposals – reduced from the original plans for nine homes – are a mix of three and four-bedroom semi-detached and terraced houses.
Leeds-based developer Trinity 146 plans were submitted in December 2013. The site was also the former home of The Limelight Dance Studio, off Armley Ridge Road.
The proposals would lead to the loss of three mature trees and the pruning of others.
A council planning officer’s report concluded: “The principle of the scheme on this site can be considered appropriate; it will provide eight dwelling houses in a highly sustainable location.
“Whilst the proposal will lead to harm to three trees and potential harm to trees marked for retention, the proposal will provide many benefits which will outweigh this limited degree of harm.”
Site history
In October 2018 a fire broke out at the empty Upstairs Downstairs building, which took West Yorkshire Fire Service three hours to get under control.
The blaze tore through the former Upstairs Downstairs club, which opened in 1975 and closed in 2009.
After the club’s closure, the building stood empty before it became home to Limelight Dance Studio, and in 2016, Little People Nurseries submitted a planning application to turn the former nightclub into a nursery. Those plans were approved in January 2017 but the interested business never moved in. The former nightclub building was demolished several years ago.
Housing plans for the site were approved in 2021, but again the development never came to fruition.
In 2021, developer Zarina Acquisitions Ltd was granted permission to build a mix of four flats and five houses on the site in 2021, but the development never happened.
The latest plans for the site can be viewed in full here.
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