ONE of Bridge Street’s most recognisable buildings is to be turned into flats.

Warrington Borough Council has approved plans to build 12 apartments in the former Cooperative Bank in Warrington town centre.

Blueprints seeking permission to change the use of the Grade II listed building on the corner of Bridge Street and Rylands Street will see the flats built on the second and third floor.

The building has been empty for almost a decade.

The premises were first occupied by Martins Bank, whose name is still detectable on some parts of the building.

But in 1969 the company was taken over by Barclays before the building was used by the Cooperative Bank in the 1990s with two floors above used as office space.

But following the bank’s move seven years ago to Old Market Place (where it has since closed), the premises have been left vacant.