Plans have been revealed to create a large new restaurant on a prominent York city centre site.
It would open on the corner of Swinegate and Church Street and replace two shops now trading there.
The plans “will significantly enhance the quality of the existing building” and the conservation area, say the developers.
The building comprises 4-6 Church Street and 26-28 Swinegate.
Three retailers occupy the ground floor units – The Works, Cello and William Hill bookmakers.
These new plans would see both Cello and William Hill replaced by a new restaurant. The unit occupied by The Works would stay as retailing but be upgraded.
According to a planning application lodged with City of York Council, most of the ground floor would be “converted to restaurant use and occupied by a prominent name in the UK’s dining scene”.
That occupier hasn’t yet been identified.
The first floor “comprises two stripped out office suites, which have been vacant for over 10 years,” planning documents state.
Owners of the building, investment company St Bride’s White Rose LP, says it wants to “revitalise the current tired and unattractive appearance of the building through upgrade and alteration to its external elevations”.
This would include a new ground floor timber shop frontage and the replacement of all the windows and doors.
“The building is not listed and appears as a poor modern intrusion which does not make a positive contribution to the area’s rich townscape,” the statement says.
“There is an opportunity to greatly improve material quality to the building with the installation of new shop frontages, replacement of existing windows, doors, rainwater goods, fascias and the refurbishment of the masonry façade.”
The design statement concludes: “The proposal presents an opportunity to sympathetically and effectively revitalise the existing retail frontages to Church Street and Swinegate, as well as modernise a poor quality façade on a key junction within this part of the city centre.”
There is no timetable given for the changes to the building.
You can read and comment on the planning application here.