The saga of Salthouse Mills in Barrow has taken a significant step towards redevelopment after a new owner snapped up the site.

Manchester-based property developers Amstone bought the land at Salthouse Mills for around £1.35m in 2008 but for reasons unknown they have failed to develop the site.

In 2017 Amstone put the site on the market for £1.6m and earlier this year they agreed to sell the land to a new owner but that sale fell through last month.

The site was put back on the market for just £500,000 and has now been bought by a businessman with strong local links who has vowed to turn Salthouse Mills into a success.

The new owner is self-made businessman Guy Davis whose wife hails from South Cumbria.

The couple have a cottage near Broughton and Mr Davis has experience in developing buildings locally having converted the former police station and courthouse in Millom. His business Hiltongrove also owns College House in Barrow.

The 39-year-old businessman said he was determined to make the Salthouse Mills site a success but refused to rule out alternatives to housing. He has already made contact with neighbouring landowner John Hutchinson over the purchase of his site to allow access to Salthouse Mills.

"There are significant hurdles to overcome - not least an overage provision with a previous owner and of course access," Mr Davis said.

"We will rule nothing out however, and while residential development will still be our primary objective, we cannot exclude using Salthouse Mills for alternative uses.

"We purchased the College House Business Centre in 2017 and I am delighted at how my team have improved the premises and increased the number of tenants significantly. I believe in Barrow and rest assured, we will do all we can to make Salthouse a great success."

Mr Davis' business empire started in 1994 when he launched Hiltongrove as a music company with a £10,000 loan from Barclays from a back bedroom in East London. He grew it into a design-led property company with a portfolio of more than 200 offices, apartments, houses and retail spaces.

Describing his business he said: "We love architecture. We buy buildings. We design stunning apartments. We build and convert buildings to create homes. We create great workspaces. We own and manage 200+ offices, apartments, houses and retail units. That’s us in a nutshell."

The overage provision Mr Davis referenced is a requirement of any owner of Salthouse Mills to give 40 per cent of any increase in value, as a result of planning permission being obtained, to former owners Robin and Mark Walmsley, whose father bought Salthouse Mills in 1972 and operated the site as a thriving industrial hub.

Mr Davis described Salthouse Mills as a "significant site" and vowed to keep locals up-to-date with his plans.