Wetherspoon says the grade II listed Bury pub reopens on Friday 4 December. The council's consent record shows the central bar going and a new one built under the cinema's proscenium arch.
The Art Picture House on Haymarket Street is shut, and JD Wetherspoon’s own page for the pub gives a reopening date of Friday 4 December 2026. The pub listing carries the line “Closed temporarily” alongside that date, checked today.
The company has not published a reason on the page. Bury Council’s planning register has. It shows listed building consent granted in March for a substantial reworking of the inside of the building, and a further application lodged in the last fortnight to settle the detail of it.
What the council has approved
Consent was granted under reference 72117, decided by officers under delegated powers and issued on Friday 27 March 2026. The register describes the approved works as:
- removal of the central bar
- a new bar formed underneath the proscenium arch
- new toilets
- alterations to the heating and ventilation system
- kitchen works
- general refurbishment and decoration
A separate permission, 72116, was granted on 3 October 2025 for five additional condensers and two grilles on the rear elevation.
The most recent step is reference 73582, received and validated on 25 August 2026. It asks the council to discharge condition 10 of the March consent, which covers ground floor furnishings materials. It is registered and undecided. Conditions like that one are how a listed building consent controls what actually gets fitted, rather than what was drawn.
Why the proscenium arch matters here
The building is grade II listed, entry number 1250829 on the National Heritage List for England, added on 12 April 1995. The listing dates it to 1921-2 and names the architect as Albert Winstanley. Wetherspoon’s own history note for the pub says the building was completed in 1923.
The list entry is unusually specific about the arch the new bar is going under. It records an “original round-arched proscenium with heavy modillion moulding and supported on paired pilasters”, and calls it “a rare survival”. The same entry describes the interior as “richly decorated and theatrical in tone”, and concludes that the building is included on the list as “one of the most elaborate and complete examples of an early 1920s cinema”.
Other things the listing records as still there:
- a single balcony with a curved front decorated with cartouches and swags
- two boxes on each side of the balcony, between Ionic pilasters
- some original seating in the circle
- a staircase to the circle with marble steps and a gilded metal balustrade
- the frieze between the first and second floors reading ART PICTURES and ART CAFE
Winstanley was already working on the site before the cinema went up. The listing notes he had converted a former Baptist chapel there into a cinema for the Bury Cinematograph Company in 1910-11.
One quirk worth knowing if you go looking for the records yourself. Historic England lists the building under Knowsley Street; the council’s planning register files it under Haymarket Street, BL9 0AY. It is the same corner building.
The dates so far
The gap in the middle is the striking part. Both applications were received on 30 June 2025. The listed building consent was validated on 8 August 2025 with an expiry date of 3 October 2025. It was decided on 27 March 2026, close to six months past that date. Neighbour consultation ran from 12 August to 11 September 2025 and the register records one comment.
What it means for you
- If you were heading there, it is closed now. Wetherspoon’s page gives Friday 4 December 2026 as the reopening date. Nothing else on the page commits the company to it, so check before you travel. The pub’s number is 0161 705 4040.
- If you want to see the paperwork, search references 72117, 72116 and 73582 on the council’s planning portal. The advanced search takes a reference number directly.
- If you want to comment on the outstanding application, 73582 is still registered and undecided. It is narrow, covering ground floor furnishings materials only, not the layout, which is already consented.
- The listed interior is not covered by the reopening date. What is protected is the fabric described in the list entry, and the consent already permits the central bar to go and a new one to be built under the arch.
More Bury planning decisions as they are validated are on our planning applications page. If you are coming into town, the parking in Bury guide has the tariffs for every council car park, and the tram times page has the Metrolink service into Bury Interchange.
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