Two of Glastonbury’s most historic buildings will be used to give new businesses an affordable base.

The Baily’s Buildings on Beckery Old Road was a major employer in the town until its closure in the 1980s.

The site was identified as one of 11 projects within the Glastonbury town deal, designed to revitalise the town’s economy and secure its future.

The Beckery Island Regeneration Trust has put forward plans for how the buildings will be regenerated in the years ahead.

The Grade II listed buildings are on either side of Beckery Old Road, near Aldi and the Morlands travellers’ site.

Under the proposals, the two buildings, Baily’s East and Baily’s West, will be re-purposed into a hub for local start-ups and small and growing businesses.

A museum commemorating Glastonbury’s industrial heritage will be created on the ground floor of Baily’s West.

Numerous different office and workshop spaces will be created across all three floors of both Baily’s West and Baily’s East. Outdoor covered space will be provided on Beckery Old road itself to allow events to be staged.

A new car park will be created on vacant land at the western end of Beckery Old Road. A new bridge will be built over the existing stream and improvements will be made to the existing cycle route.

A spokesman for Architecton, representing the trust, said: “The aim is to create a place to work that is like a village community for small businesses in the Glastonbury and Street areas.

“People would be able to work flexibly in a hybrid way, with shared spaces that allow easy interaction with each other.

“The trust wishes to provide quality workspaces that suit the new ways of flexible hybrid working that are now needed following the covid-19 pandemic.”

This is the first of the Glastonbury town deal projects to formally move forward following the approval of the final business cases in September by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Mendip District Council is expected to make a decision on the plans in early-2023.