New shisha lounge and restaurant planned in Preston
A shisha lounge could be set to open on a main route into Preston.
Plans have been unveiled for the outlet – which would also function as a restaurant – on Fylde Road at the junction with Aqueduct Street.
Shisha is flavoured tobacco, usually smoked amongst groups of people as a way of socialising.
If approved, the venue will include smoking and eating areas, as well as offering mocktails.
The venture has been proposed for the ground floor of the unit currently occupied by Kevin Roper Interiors, which is planning to open a new showroom within its workshop premises on nearby Bold Street later this year.
Odour assessments submitted as part of the application for permission for the lounge conclude that smells emanating from the kitchen would pose more of a potential problem to nearby residents than those resulting from the emission of shisha smoke.
“Appropriate mitigation” in the cooking area will be required to reduce any possible impact to “an acceptable level”, the analysis states.
In contrast, the risk of negative effects from the smell of shisha itself was “not considered to be significant” after taking into account the likely scale of any external emissions.
The noise impact of the venture, however, was initially regarded as being excessive for residents living on the first floor of the building.
But measures including improvements to windows and use of a noise limiter would, it is claimed, be sufficient to “ensure the likelihood of adverse impacts is kept to a minimum”.