Vacant Lancashire clothes shop earmarked for a new café

The empty premises of a former Blackburn clothes shop have been earmarked to become a new café.

Applicant Samantha Jane Mack wants to convert the retail unit at 621 Whalley New Road in Roe Lee.

The site was formerly home to Butterflies bridal shop.

A supporting statement submitted with her application to Blackburn with Darwen Council for the change says: “The proposal is for the installation of new shopfront and extract canopy to the rear.

“The existing site is currently vacant previously occupied as clothes shop.

“The site will be converted to a coffee shop / café serving healthy breakfast / snacks and hot/cold drinks.

“The restaurant/café will provide eat in service serving healthy breakfast and snacks throughout the day.

“The new shopfront will provide a fresh new appearance and the extract canopy will be installed to the rear discharging one metre above the eaves as per council guidelines.”

Plan drawings submitted with the application depict what the front of the property would look like with the current canopy being removed and a new shutter box installed.

Although the signage location is shown, the drawings do not reveal what the signage would look like and thereby the café name remains unknown.

Also submitted with the application is an ‘Odour Control Risk Assessment’ known as an EMAQ report.

This states that the proposal “falls in line with the local authorities requirements and if the system is maintained correctly they will not exhaust nuisance odours leading to complaints from nearby residents”.

You can see the full application for yourself here: http://planningdms-live.blackburn.gov.uk/PublicAccess_LIVE//SearchResult/RunThirdPartySearch?FileSystemId=EN&FOLDER1_REF=10/25/0759#