Gloucestershire industrial specialist Bruton Knowles has let the landmark Malt House in Stroud.
The distinctive red brick building – formerly part of the Whitbread brewery on the Salmon Springs industrial estate – is being turned into a unique destination centre for antiques dealers and collectors from all over the West.
The Malt House Emporium will be run by former London banker and enthusiastic antiques dealer Helen Tweddle, who was previously based at Fab and Faded in Gloucester.
Helen said: “This was a real marriage made in heaven for us. We are creating a destination centre where we want people to come to Stroud and visit us and make a day of it.”
Helen plans to attract dealers from as far afield as Bath Oxford and Bristol to set up in their own bespoke bay within the two-storey Malt House.
She is already attracting furniture, jewellery and curios businesses and promises a range of weekly events and fairs focusing on various aspects of the trade.
“It’s a unique opportunity which we hope will be growing all the time.”
The Grade II listed Malt House features retail accommodation arranged over two floors together with a large basement store and ample free car parking to the front.
Julian Capewell from Bruton Knowles said the building offered a total of 25,839 sq ft of quality accommodation just one mile from Stroud town centre.
He said: “This is a very ambitious project which will bring a good number of new visitors to Stroud. It’s also very encouraging to see this beautiful old building being brought back into use after standing empty for the last five years or so.”