Popular Preston restaurant site to become flats

Plans have been unveiled to create three so-called “studio flats” on the upper floors of the former Totto’s eatery on Fleet Street in the city centre.

The Mediterranean venue closed at the height of the pandemic in 2020, after more than 15 years in operation. Its chef and owner later started serving some of their best-loved dishes from the La Viva cafe on Fishergate.

Town hall planners have now been told of the proposed conversion of the business' previous home, which is classed as “permitted development” and so does not require full planning permission to be granted.

The blueprint will see one self-contained flat developed on each of the first, second and third floors of the premises. They will all have combined living room and kitchen areas and an ensuite bedroom.

The ground floor is to remain available for commercial use and the two existing entrances allow for separate access to the new flats and the retail unit. Bicycle storage spaces will also be included at street level.

Documents submitted to Preston City Council giving notice of the planned changes state that they will bring an “underutilised building” back into use by “providing much-needed housing without compromising the heritage value of the site”.

Sound insulation will be incorporated into the new flats in order to protect the occupants from any noise caused by a business beginning to trade from the ground floor in future.

The outside of the late nineteenth-century building - which sits in the Winckley Square Conservation Area - will remain unchanged, according to the proposals submitted by the applicant, Junaid Ejaz.