Planning approval for landmark building redevelopment

The old Reform Club, more recently home to the Nu Well shopping mall, occupies an elevated site at the Hough Lane crossroads in the centre of Wombwell.

It became a shopping centre after the Reform Club closed, but the building has been largely out of use for many years.

Now, Barnsley Council has approve plans which will see the roof of the building - which has a distinctive double-flight of stairs to the front door - raised to provide space for seven apartments, in addition to shops at ground floor level.

Existing walls would be raised, allowing for a patio area to serve the apartments, which would be accessed from a door in Hough Lane.

The club’s existing red-brick finish will be retained for the existing elements of the building, but cladding and a flat roof will form the new extension, to “create a modern visual to the street scene”, according to the plans approved by the council.

It has taken the council more than a year to make a decision on the proposals, which were submitted in October 2024.

When the building was the Reform Club, a war memorial was installed inside to recognise the World War servicemen lost in combat.

As plans for the future of the building emerged, that was removed and has now been re-instated in a public location alongside the old Wombwell Town Hall, a short distance from the club site, where it is open to the public.

The development should bring three new shops to Wombwell and a car park, which covers a significant site behind Summer Lane, will be resurfaced and set out with marked bays.

That is large enough to cope with delivery vehicles, too.

Planning documents suggest a ‘national retailer’ would be interested in the largest of the retail units, though no further details have been set out.

A take-away food outlet on the lower ground floor is unaffected by developments, planning documents confirm.

Six of the apartments will have one bedroom, with one having two bedrooms.