Ex-film location could become site for new homes

The Beacon pub in Buttershaw, Bradford, featured in the 1987 film Rita, Sue and Bob Too

The derelict, fly-tipped former site of a pub which was once a backdrop to a famous film and play could be redeveloped into 40 new homes if plans are approved.

The Beacon pub in Buttershaw, Bradford, demolished in 2019, was featured in works by playwright Andrea Dunbar, including the 1987 film Rita, Sue and Bob Too.

Dunbar's work was based on the Buttershaw estate and in other parts of the city, and was praised for shining a light on often ignored parts of society in the 1980s.

The planning application submitted by Collaborate Living said its "high-quality housing scheme" would "re-develop a stalled brownfield site, which is currently overgrown and experiencing waste dumping and vandalism".

Dunbar often wrote in The Beacon on Reevy Road West and it was there that she suffered a brain haemorrhage that led to her death aged 29 in 1990.

Since the pub, dating back to the 1960s, closed in 2016 there have been many plans to build housing and business units on the site.

A mural showing Andrea Dunbar appeared on the side of a building in Bradford in 2024

In 2019, the pub was demolished as part of plans to build 18 homes that never came to fruition.

The plot of land remained empty and was a magnet for fly-tipping, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

In the latest proposal submitted to Bradford Council, the 40 flats would be a mix of one and two-bed properties, including 32 on-site parking spaces, cycle parking and landscaped areas.

The application by affordable housing group Collaborate Living, which points out the site had previously been allocated as suitable for housing by the council, is the third proposal to transform the site in the past five years.

According to the application, Buttershaw residents were consulted on the plans in the summer.

While some respondents welcomed a new use for the site and said its construction would create local jobs, others raised concerns about extra traffic and anti-social behaviour.

A decision on the latest application is expected in March.

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