>>> GALLERY: 34 photos of Clementhorpe Maltings

YORK residents were given a rare chance to view a remarkable Victorian maltings that has been locked up and barely seen for decades.

Clementhorpe Community Association organised tours of the building in Lower Darnborough Street on Wednesday night.

>>> GALLERY: 34 photos of Clementhorpe Maltings

York-based developers Northminster want to convert the building into six houses, but the association said many local people felt they had not been fully consulted on the plans.

On Wednesday the association let more than 50 local residents see the maltings. It was last used in the 1950s, by Tadcaster Tower Brewery, but much of the machinery remains in place.

York Press:

Picture: Gill Warner

A further meeting is now planned on Tuesday, so local people can discuss the proposals before they go before a City of York Council planning committee on June 11.

>>> GALLERY: 34 photos of Clementhorpe Maltings

Andy Johnson, chair of the association, said: "This was the first opportunity a lot of people have had to look round the building. People were fascinated with the building but had never had the opportunity of viewing it. It's a fascinating building and it does look like people have just downed tools and walked away and it has not been touched since."

York Press:

Picture: Mark Coates

Residents were fascinated by the building when they were shown round on Wednesday.

Gill Warner, one of the locals on the tour, said: "It's like they left work on the Friday, vanished off the face of the earth and it's not been touched since."

>>> GALLERY: 34 photos of Clementhorpe Maltings

Northminster has said its £1.7 million plans would include creating an open three-storey communal entrance, with a partly-glazed roof to display some of the original machinery. That includes a cast iron steep, a corn-dressing machine, a double-bucket elevator, a large hopper for storing grain and a kiln furnace by H.J.H. King, thought to be one of only two left in the country.

Flashback: Read about Northminster's plans here