Landmark printing offices to become shops and apartments after going on market for £750k

The iconic Kenrick and Jefferson printing offices site, in front of the Astle Park shopping centre, West Bromwich, will have two ground floor shops and 14 apartments on the two floors above.

The grade II listed building dates back to 1883 when it was constructed as the new printing and publishing offices.

The building, which is being sold through Right Move, is due to undergo a full programme of refurbishment to restore the building back to "real local significance".

Mohinder Tagger, Councillor for West Bromwich Central, said: "It has been empty and has looked in a bad way for a long time."

The building was bought by DR Developments in Birmingham for £240,000 after it failed to sell at auction in 2012.

Grade II listed Astle House had repeatedly failed to sell and owners Bond Wolfe were forced to cut its guide price from £525,000 to £350,000 when it went to auction.

The building had been left severely water-damaged and was infested with pigeons when it was taken by the company, which was also behind plans to convert Handsworth's Red Fort pub into a restaurant.

DR Developments put three proposals forward, which included seeing two floors of business space created alongside seven apartments, one-and-a-half floors dedicated to business with nine apartments or a ground floor restaurant and 14 luxury apartments.

The most recent plans could turn the ground floor into two ground floor shops with apartments above.

John Arthur Kenrick, a member of the well-known hardware family in the Birmingham area, formed a partnership with Frederick Thomas Jefferson, a local solicitor, to acquire the business of 'The Free Press', a bankrupt Liberal newspaper in West Bromwich, in October 1878.

A limited company was incorporated in January 1900, taking over the business from July 1899.

It business remained a private limited company, with ownership equally divided between the two founding families at least into the 1950s.

The Kenrick and Jefferson Male Voice Choir continues to perform across the Midlands today.