An award-winning guesthouse looks set to be turned into a family home as the owners sell up.
The Bishop and The Bison Boutique Hotel on Clifton is run by married couple Jonathan Burgoyne and Anthony Lewis.
They bought what was previously the Bloomsbury Guest House in 2020.
The couple, who are from Yorkshire but lived in the USA for some years, undertook a month-long makeover to give the property “an American take on a Victorian period townhouse”.
The Bishop and The Bison soon garnered rave reviews and won a TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Award in 2022. The following year it was named B&B and Guest House of the Year in the VisitYork Tourism Awards.
Now, however, Jonathan and Anthony have applied for permission to turn 127 Clifton from a commercial B&B into a single private dwellinghouse.
In a letter to planners, they say: “We are in the process of selling the property, and we request that the planning permission for change of use be granted pending the sale.”
The property “will not be altered structurally or cosmetically in any way” and it will retain its original character from when it was built as a Victorian terrace in 1875.
The hotel offers eight letting rooms. “The city has recently given planning permission for a large 188-bed Premier Inn property to be opened in the city centre,” the letter says.
“In all honesty, as a bed and breakfast outside the city centre, we would struggle to compete with these properties on price.
“We have two neighbours that already offer Airbnb letting rooms. Our letting rooms are immaterial in the scale of York’s overall available accommodation offering.”
They conclude: “The area is quiet and friendly, and the addition of a new family to the terrace would likely be welcomed.
“We do not have any plans to sell to a developer given the additional approvals that will be needed. Furthermore, we love our property and would not wish to see it being divided into flats.”
You can read and comment on the planning application here.