The future of the High Wycombe Liberal Club building has been secured after a new planning application was approved.

Wycombe Museum will store, repair and occasionally display chairs from its collection in the property, which sits next to the Wycombe Swan on St Mary Street.

A first-floor extension to the western side of the 1930s red-brick building will form a museum entrance and first floor reception area to help transform it into a ‘study centre’.

Two ramps will also be installed to provide disabled access, one of which will wrap around the extension, with the other to the southeast of the building.

Councillors unanimously approved the upgrades during a meeting of the West Buckinghamshire Area Planning Committee on Wednesday night.

Abbey ward councillor Lesley Clarke told the meeting: “I think it is a shame that we haven’t been able to see the chair collection to its fullest extent.

“This, I believe, will start to see what the Wycombe people own. It is their chair collection, and they should be able to view it.”

A plan to change the use of the building from a social club and drinking establishment to a museum was approved last August.

This was followed by another successful application to replace all windows and some doors, the work for which is now underway.

The town centre study centre will not replace the museum but will help preserve its collection, which includes a wide range of Windsor chairs and represents over 200 years of furniture making.