PLANS for a former pub and gentleman’s club in Wilmslow have been refused over concerns about aesthetics.

A planning application for 16 Grove Street, most recently trading as The Old Dancer, has been rejected by Cheshire East Council.

It had been hoped to turn the 'visually striking' three-storey building into a retail unit and apartments.

However, in a report recommending the plans be refused, case officer Laura Hayes wrote: “As the proposals conflict with neighbourhood, local and national planning policies and guidance regarding insufficient internal space and accommodations for new dwellings, design and local character and residential amenity that the application is refused approval.”

The venue previously operated under names such as Zest, Suede and ST Lounge – a gentleman’s club with lap dancers.

However, in 2013 Cheshire East Council refused to extend the sexual entertainment venue licence.

The following year it reopened as The Old Dancer, a bar and café which sold real ales and hosted live music.

The plans submitted to Cheshire East Council last December would have seen the ground floor turned into a commercial unit with three apartments occupying the two floors above.

One reason given for refusing the plans was that it would 'detrimentally impact' the appearance of Grove Street.

Despite not being a listed building, its 'faux Tudor-style' frontage makes it 'one of the most visually striking, attractive and positive' properties from an architectural viewpoint.

The report says that altering this frontage would 'remove in its entirety one of the most positively impactful and characterful buildings on this street and thus detrimentally impact the character of the building individually, the character of the street scene as a whole and damage the ambitions of making positive aesthetic changes to the street'.

It adds that the proposed architectural style is of “generic 2010s take on Modernism and is akin to ‘no-wheres-ville’.”