Sudbury’s former Barclays Bank building granted permission for works to improve outside appearance

Works to improve the appearance of a former Sudbury bank building, after a long-standing business vacated the town last year, have been retrospectively approved.

Babergh District Council granted listed building consent for alterations to the former Barclays Bank at 35 Market Hill, to make good where exterior fittings removed.

The alterations – which included the removal of existing external signage, cash machines and letterboxes, and the subsequent infilling of apertures – had already been carried out without permission, following the departure of Barclays in 2023.

Dating back to the 19th century, the Grade II listed site consists of two buildings – a purpose-built bank, and the former Sudbury Institute Club, which was later incorporated into the banking premises.

On the 1885 Ordnance Survey map, it is identified as a ‘literary institution’, but is believed to have originally been a grand entrance to the Sudbury Theatre.