Work to complete Pontefract’s Counting House is almost complete and 17th century building could be open by Christmas

Work to restore the Counting House, which dates back to 1609, has been undertaken by owner Guy Lister.

The project includes repairs to the roof, new plaster – created through a specific technique involving horse manure – and a new upstairs terrace.

Mr Lister has continued the unfinished work initially started by his late father.

He is now looking to work with people to make the best use of the building for the Pontefract.

Aside from serving food and drink, ideas that have been raised include a museum or places where people can train in traditional crafts or recipes.

Mr Lister said: “It has been a pleasure working on the Counting House. Lot of people love it in Pontefract and I want to find the right people to make it succeed.

“I've done everything I can for that building, no stone is left unturned and everything is as high quality as possible. It would be remiss to not make sure she has the most sustainable use for the future.

“People have said to me ‘I think you should run the place’, but I was never going to do that.

"I restored it in memory of my father, who was never able to get it finished.

"He initially opened it 30 years ago. In another 30 years time I probably won't be here so what's important to me is to restore the building to the best of my ability and the last piece of the jigsaw is to find people to look after the building and make it sing.

"I'm just a temporary owner of a building that has been around since 1609. There's been many owners and there will be many more.”

Mr Lister is aiming to open the Counting House will by Christmas but said that will depend on the use that’s decided and the work that will need to be done inside.

The Counting House dates back to four years after Guy Fawkes attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament in the Gunpowder Plot.

Originally a merchant’s ‘counting’ house, the building later subdivided into dwellings and spent nearly 30 years as a pub after Malcolm Lister bought and rescued it in the 1980s.

It closed as a pub in 2012 and has been vacant since.

Malcolm, an architect, was renowned for renovating old buildings and turning them into pubs and restaurants, and in the early 1990s, the Counting House won national awards for conservation.

Many volunteers have worked on the current restoration.

Mr Lister said: “Together we've turned it right from a building that looked derelict to one that is flourishing.

“The project has had a number of volunteers and it would not have happened without that volunteering.

“In that, there has already been that engagement with the community and that's a lovely thing about it. I don't think people would have walked past and volunteered had it been a private house or office block.”

A dendrochronology test, similar to how a tree would be aged, was used to determine when the Swales Yard building was completed.