Part of former Victorian brewery in Hull which survived the Blitz set to be converted into apartments

A Levelling Up Funding grant worth £82,832 has been awarded to bring the eastern side of Silvester House in The Maltings back into use.

Hull City Council Regeneration Portfolio Holder Cllr Paul Drake-Davis said the grant was great news for an area of the city with stunning architecture.

It comes after a planning application to convert part of the 19th Century building into apartments was granted last year.

Works on the Grade II-listed brewery building, costing an estimated £414,161, are set to see the empty part of it converted into 14 one and two bedroom apartments.

Gleadow, Dibb and Co began work on their purpose built brewery in Silvester Street in 1866 and moved into it in 1868.

The company’s Anchor Brewery could ferment 24,000 gallons of the wort liquid extracted from the mashing process of beer making at a time.

The company was wound up in 1887 and The Hull Brewery Company was formed in its place.

It enlarged the Silvester Street site and owned 160 licensed houses by 1890 and continued buying local breweries into the 1920s.

They included breweries in Lincolnshire with the finished beer transported by barge across the River Humber.

The Silvester Street site was one of the few company sites to survive The Blitz during the Second World War.

One theory holds it was because German Luftwaffe bomber pilots used its chimneys as a landmark to help them navigate.

Hull Brewery was bought out by Northern Dairies in 1972 and brewing at Silvester Street stopped in 1985.

The Maltings development which occupies the site today is made up of apartments and office space.

The refurbishment of the building is set to see new electrics and plumbing installed along with internal alterations and partitions.

The inside will be re-plastered and decorated with new kitchens, flooring, joinery and windows fitted.

Funding for the works comes from £7.5m in levelling up money the council has set aside to bring empty city centre buildings back into use.

Cash from the fund has also been awarded to renovate vacant parts of King’s Buildings, in South Church Side, among others.

The £7.5m comes from a total of £19.5m awarded to the council following a successful bid to the Government for levelling up funding in 2021.

Cllr Drake-Davis said it was great to see another city centre building being brought back into use.

The portfolio holder said: “This renovation is great news for this area of the city centre, rich in stunning architecture.

“These grants from the government’s Levelling Up Fund are really helping to enhance the city centre’s offer to residents and visitors alike.”

Works are set to start in the coming weeks.