| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Can't something be done about the Pain Quo site? | |
| Posted by: | Adam Beamish | |
| Date/Time: | 17/06/19 14:43:00 |
| The struggles of the restaurant trade is very well publicised at the moment, and both Balans and Le Pain Quotidien failed to make a success of this site. What's the basis therefore for the OP to suggest the site could be a 'goldmine' ?!. As for planning obstacles, there aren't any - the lawful use was restaurant, so the use could changed under permitted development to A1 (retail) or A2 (financial and professional services), as well as being able to continue operating as a restaurant. Adrian is right though about Councils not helping themselves, I'm currently involved in an appeal out here in Newbury involving the conversion of a pub to residential. As part of its determination of the application the Council (not the applicant) appointed an independent consultant to assess the viability of a recently closed pub and that consultant concluded that the continued use of the pub wasn't remotely financially viable. Yet the Council refused the application on the basis that the pub hadn't been marketed as a pub for long enough. So in essence the Council is encouraging people to invest in a doomed business venture...madness. |