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Restoration hope for town's oldest building

Do you have any pictures or fond memories of The Lowther Hotel in Goole?

The oldest public building in the town has recently been bought by the Julie Howard Partnership and saved from rack and ruin.

The new owners, who specialise in converting old premises, now want local people's help to restore the Aire Street building to its former glory.

Developer Howard Duckworth said: "We are looking for photos of the hotel and its features going as far back as we can. Also any stories people can tell us about the building, this will help us restore the Lowther Hotel back to its former glory."

The former public house, which has stood empty for somey years, has come under attack from vandals who have graffitied the listed building, broken windows and ripped out a lot of its original features including fireplaces, lead from the roof and copper piping.

A squatters' den was also discovered on the top floor of the hotel, with sleeping bags and out-of-date food left behind.

Because the Lowther is a grade two listed building the Howard Duckworth Partnership is liaising with English Heritage on the restoration project.

"We aim to restore some sort of order and elegance to the building," he said.

"Over the years it has been used and abused as a nightclub and a pub and the beautiful murals have being spoilt with artex but all it needs is some tlc," said Julie Duckworth.

The new owners have yet to decide what to do with the hotel once they have restored it but have ruled out using it for residential purposes. "At the moment we just want to clean it up, see what we have got and get the structure sorted before we decide what to do with it," they said.

"We will give the building its self respect back," said Howard.

A website for the hotel, www.lowtherhotel.com, is also being set up where people can log on and follow the work in progress on the building.

Although the couple, who have worked on listed buildings before and won awards for their work in Goole, admit the restoration is a massive project, they believe the Lowther Hotel is an important part of Goole's heritage. "We can't see a beautiful and elegant piece of Goole's history just fall down," said Julie.

If you have any photos or stories about The Lowther Hotel that you would like to share, please send them to the Goole Times offices.

Goole Town Councillor Jean Kitchen said: "It is a big relief that the Julie Howard Partnership have taken this project on board. Looking at other buildings they have restored in Goole I am confident they can restore it to how it should be."

Published on 17th July 2008 in News.

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