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Birmingham’s first Budapest-style ruin pub is set to be opened in one of the city centre’s oldest surviving houses as part of a £15 million development.

The Grade II listed houses on Bartholomew Row, in Digbeth, which pre-date the earliest map of Birmingham, are set to be restored for a mixed use development called The Emporium.

The scheme on the site of the Georgian townhouses – previously the site of the Christopher Wray lighting firm complex – will include a 15 storey student apartment block, offices, art and design studios, a bar or restaurants – and a ruin pub.

Budapest boasts several ruin pubs set up in derelict buildings which have proven popular.

The ruin bar will be housed in a basement room which is to undergo minimal restoration adn be decorated with fixtures and memorabilia to commemorate the lighting firm.

Christopher Wray set up by the firm while looking for work as an actor and later turned down a role on Emmerdale to continue the business. The Birmingham workshop closed in 2003. He died last year aged 74.

The Emporium plans have come forward five years after the previous owner unsuccessfully attempted to get the building demolished, claiming its restoration was not economically viable.

Simon Linford, of developer C-zero, says the current plans now stack up because of the recent relocation of the Birmingham City University to the area and the opening of the Eastside City Park next door.

It is also conveniently located near to the soon to be built HS2 line and Curzon Street Station.

Mr Linford said: “It was only a few years ago that they were trying to knock the whole thing down. The opening of the park and the new BCU campus have increased the value of the site. We could not have done it without them.”

He said that the development is valued at £15 million, of which £2.5 million is to cover the cost of renovation of the historic buildings.

“There is a lot of interest in it from student accommodation operators.

“The hope is to put in the planning application by the end of August and complete the development by September 2017.”

The building was opened last year under the Birmingham Post’s Hidden Spaces programme and it is planned to open it up again as part of the public consultation process.

Mr Linford added: “I am also keen to hear from as many former employees of Christopher Wray lighting so that we can collect memories of the building’s last use.”

The plans were given a warm welcome by the city council’s Conservation and Heritage Panel – the group which advises on developments involving historic buildings and sites.

Panel member and architect Joe Holyoak said: “I’m very pleased to see a serious proposal come forward for the restoration and reuse of this building. It was only a few years ago that there was a plan for its demolition and now there has been a complete turnaround.

“Now we are seeing the conversion of four houses and outbuildings.”

Architect Matthew Goer said: “Two of the townhouses are original Georgian residences, which predate the earliest map of the city, indicating their age could date back as far as 1720.

“This makes them the oldest surviving dwellings in the city centre and a vitally important part of Birmingham’s architectural history. They would have sat proudly as part of a grand square around the now demolished St. Bartholomew’s Chapel.

“The site is bookended on Fox Street with a row of former back-to-back houses and the courtyard between the two rows of houses evolved over the centuries into a manufacturing hub.”

The development includes, two bars on the ground floor opening out onto the park, the tower with 168 student rooms and the Georgian Houses to be converted into offices. Further rooms will be turned into student common rooms or design studios.

• Full details of the scheme will be found on www.savingbartholomewrow.com