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New buyer in talks for 'mill that won't die'

Charles Heslett
Bradford Reporter•@CharlesHeslett
Reporting fromBradford
BBC The Yorkshire stone shell of a former four-storey mill with scaffolding running up two towers and daylight clearly visible through its window archesBBC
The mill complex has lain empty since an arson attack back in 2022 destroyed the main building

A prospective buyer for a historic mill complex has pulled out of the sale after months of negotiations.

The Crown Estate, which is handling the sale of the Grade II-listed Dalton Mills in Keighley, said it was now in "advanced talks" with another interested party instead.

The site has been called a "danger to life" after numerous arson attacks left it unsafe and a trespasser was injured in a roof fall.

Local heritage campaigners have called for a decision on the ownerless building to be made quickly so that it can be made secure.

A shaven-headed man wearing a dark, faded purple jacket with a dirty yellow sandstone archway in the background and two van, one with its axle on a brick, to one side.
Emmerson Walgrove wants a decision over the ownership of the site to be made as quickly as possible

Emmerson Walgrove, the new chair of the Keighley Civic Society, said: "I think the Crown Estate is in a difficult position.

"They've been given this building. They probably didn't want it in the first place and I think the laws that they have to abide by are outdated. "

The Crown Estate is responsible for selling the complex under escheat, an ancient law, but it has no legal responsibility for its upkeep.

Mr Walgrove added: "It needs to be sorted. We are now in 2025 and it doesn't go well for the Bradford City of Culture year; Keighley is meant to be part of that."

Joyce Newton is chair of the Keighley and District Local History Society and sits on a Dalton Mills safety committee which includes West Yorkshire Police and Bradford Council representatives.

She said: "It's the building that won't die. People have tried to do all sorts to it and here it is, still standing.

"Attempts have been made by various bodies to secure it but the main problem is the building's status with no ownership."

Ms Newton said the mill had to have a viable purpose, whether commercial or community use, but added: "We're not looking for pie-in-the-sky.

"You cannot keep a building in aspic and let it deteriorate which is obviously, over the period of time, what has happened."

A woman with long, brown hair wearing a blue hooded coat standing next to a red and white sign spelling out Dalton Mills with a exterior Yorkshire stone walls of one of the mill buildings in the background.
Joyce Newton said the complex cannot be "kept in aspic" for ever

A developer bought Dalton Mills in 2013 after it had lain empty since the 1980s.

However, the main building was never renovated and was instead hired out for TV filming, including as a location for Peaky Blinders, before a deliberate fire in 2022 destroyed it.

The complex was then taken over by the Crown Estate, a business owned by the monarch but which generates revenue for the public purse.

Talks with a new buyer stopped in December, the BBC has established.

Sarah Hinton-Smith, from the Crown Estate, said: "I can confirm that we are in advanced talks with a (different) prospective buyer."

She did not clarify why the previous deal did not progress.

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