Ex-police station in historic town to be aparthotel

A GRADE II-listed building in the heart of a World Heritage Site is to be partly demolished and converted into an aparthotel.

- By ANDREW FORGRAVE

The historic property housed a police station for 162 years and is a key presence in Conwy town centre.

The Old Police Station, vacant since 2022, sits on a prominent site in Lancaster Square. While it has an imposing frontage, its later rear extension is more austere, typifying the idea of a Victorian station with windowless prison cells.

Planning consent for the 19-room aparthotel, and a ground floor cafe or retail space, has been approved by Conwy Council. The frontage is to be preserved but the rear has a concrete castellated roof that's considered to lack the same "grandeur and status", and will be knocked down.

This will be replaced by a "2.5-storey extension" that will have a "sunken crown" roof so it doesn't dominate surrounding buildings.

The design also allows an obscured air source heat pump and solar panels to be installed on the roof.

Work must begin within five years and should not take place on Sundays, Bank Holidays and Saturday afternoons when the square is often busy with locals and tourists.