A bid has been made to modernise a former bank to make it more attractive to tenants.
The empty Grade II listed former HSBC in Holmfirth could be set for internal and external alterations if a planning bid is successful.
Among the changes being sought for the 28 Victoria Street building are larger windows and an outside spiral staircase.
The owner wants to drop the height of the windows to make them more suitable for a shop frontage, saying the higher windows when viewed from street level “present a significant obstacle to retail use where views in are essential to the shopping experience.”
The building’s agent Minerva SIPP has applied to Kirklees Council for planning consent to update the building and in the planning application they say: “... our client is keen to attract new tenants ensuring the unit doesn’t remain vacant for a significant period of time and adversely affect the town.
“Huddersfield is a clear example of negative effect that loss of retail on the town high street can have.
“It is believed that converting the building to a retail use with a ground floor street presence and secondary offer for office use will attract substantial interest given the prominence of the building on the high street of Holmfirth.
“It is believed that this would be beneficial to the local area and would provide viable and vibrant service to the town.”
The planning bid also seeks to remove the internal partitions, remove the staircase from the ground floor and add a new stair access at the rear, which would provide access to proposed first floor offices.
HSBC closed its doors on January 2017, saying footfall in the branch reduced and that customers were carrying out banking needs online, via the telephone or at ATMs, without the need of a branch.
