Hereford takeaway finally approved

A plan to create a new takeaway restaurant in the heart of Hereford has been approved at the second attempt.

A Leicestershire firm applied in summer for permission to convert 61 Commercial Street, in the pedestrianised zone near the city’s famous Black & White House, into a takeaway restaurant.

The first floor, currently an office and storeroom, was to be converted into a manager’s bedsit flat, while the second floor would be retained as a staff kitchen and toilets.

As the building is grade II listed, the plan also needed consent for planned internal alterations and a new shopfront. An earlier proposal was withdrawn following objections that not enough information had been supplied on this.

The revised plan then dropped the previously proposed new frontage of folding glass doors giving onto an outdoor seating area at the front.

Herefordshire Council’s historic buildings officer Debra Lewis said the revised plan provided “sufficient assurance for the application to be considered favourably” – though she noted that the conversion work had already begun.

Planning officer Simon Rowles concluded that the city’s central conservation area “would be conserved by virtue of the improvements to the scheme”, which would bring the building back into use while providing new residential space.

It appears the new outlet will be called Bistro 61, though details of its food offer have yet to emerge.