Watch more of our videos on Shots!
and live on Freeview channel 276

Plans for a cafe to open in a former takeaway kitchen in Lancaster have been unveiled.

An application for a change of use for the premises which housed a hot food takeaway on Hornbeam Road in Lancaster has been submitted to the city council.

Applicant Michael Jenner wants to turn the property into a cafe with an extension at the side.

In the planning documents it says 10 Hornbeam Road is a single storey, flat-roofed building, believed to have been previously used as a newspaper storage centre, operated by Smiths

A view of the current building in 2022 from Google Street View.

News for the distribution of newspapers in the local area.

More recently, the building has been used as a ‘dark kitchen’, akin to a hot food takeaway, which involved home-delivery of pizzas, burgers, fried chicken etc, rather than for sale to visiting members of the public.

The current application proposes to change it into a Class E use for the sale of food and drink principally to visiting members of the public, where consumption of that food and drink is mostly

undertaken on the premises(restaurant or cafe).

The area in which the building is located has a mixed use, with industrial land and buildings to the north and west at Lune Industrial Estate, although immediately to the north-west is a

building currently used as a social club known as the Hornet’s Bar, with a function room catering for parties, weddings etc.

It is proposed to alter and extend the existing building, relocating and expanding the existing kitchen area, to provide a larger café facility and indoor seating area which will principally serve

businesses operating on the Lune Industrial Estate (pre-and post redevelopment) throughout the course of the day, including breakfasts from around 7am, lunches, and snacks through the

afternoon.

A café has been proposed as part of a planning application for the redevelopment of the industrial estate, however this is proposed to be located at the far north-western corner of the estate and

extends to only 155sqm.

There is considered to be scope for additional local breakfast/lunch facilities, given the amount of floorspace proposed in the redevelopment scheme.

The application is awaiting a decision from Lancaster City Council.

There have been no objections lodged with the city council.

View the planning application number 23/01256/FUL at https://www.lancaster.gov.uk/planning

New cafe plan for former hot food takeaway business in Lancaster