Pounds House 'should be used for weddings'

TURN IT INTO A REGISTER OFFICE, SAYS TORY CHIEF

- By WILLIAM TELFORD

THE sale of Plymouth's historic Pounds House should be called off and the mansion turned into a “top grade wedding venue’ says Tory chief Andy Lugger.

The opposition leader said the Grade II listed building, which hosted weddings in the past, would make a better register office than the current “industrial unit” at Derriford which he said is “totally unbecoming for a city of our size”.

Cllr Lugger attacked the current sale of the 19th-century former country house in Central Park, which is being offloaded by owner Plymouth City Council, along with 0.36 hectares of land around it. He, and his Conservative colleagues on the council, are calling on the Labour administration to call a halt.

Plymouth City Council, which owns the 200-year-old pile, said the disused building is in need of a new lease of life, and although it has looked “extensively” at options and ploughed nearly £500,000 into it since 2020, it has not been able to find a use for it. It is looking for a “sympathetic new owner” who can revive and restore the structure and expects to sell it at auction.