Costa Coffee has received planning permission for a drive-through shop at the site of a former village pub in Chester.
Plans for transforming the former home of The Old Trooper in Christleton into a self-serve coffee shop have been submitted to the Cheshire West and Chester Council.
Last week, the SWAC permitted the plans, subject to several conditions concerning a development project.
Planning experts Roman Summer Associates, applying on behalf of Valedown Developments Ltd, declared the proposal would also make four new residential units.
The project would also include an extension to the rear, external improvements such as new or replacement doors and windows, roof transformations and the removal of chimneys, and a new circular drive-through route including a 23-space car park for the coffee shop (including two disabled parking areas) and five locations for the residential units, as well as six bike racks.
A terrace would also be available to customers of the coffee shop at the rear. The Old Trooper Harvester restaurant had occupied the site from November 2018 until its closure.
According to planners, it may not be needed to make a change of use application. The Old Trooper served as a restaurant, now classified as a coffee shop.
Though, the statement read as follows: “Both parties (Appellant and Costa Coffee) want to establish a clear planning strategy in the future, leaving no room for ambiguity or doubt. As a result, we are apprehensive that the original usage of The Old Trooper was a public apartment, which was then converted into a restaurant at some point, but apprehensive that there was once a public house here.”
As stated in the application: “This is a dull and vacant site that will not contribute to the function or vitality of Christleton as a marked hub of local services, and an alternative and continual use are necessary. Therefore, it will serve both the local community and the surrounding area and benefit the local economy and the environment.
“The applicant argues that the proposed improvement is entirely appropriate for Christleton’s local service center.
Local residents can expect ten new jobs created by the new coffee shop.
“Located on a principal road, the new facility will also be a popular and convenient ‘pit stop’ and meeting place for passing traffic. The business community increasingly uses Costas as convenient meeting venues. The organisation is particularly endeavouring a presence along the principal route into/out of Chester as one of its principal ‘target cities’.
Accordingly, the site is ideally located to serve this commercial aspiration.” Costa Coffee would be between 6.30 am and 11 pm during regular business hours. As a result of demolition work at the rear, the redeveloped building would occupy less space to accommodate the drive-through facility.
The application also proposed soft landscaping to ‘green’, a complex urban environment.
