RESIDENTS are split over the plans for a pop-up restaurant on the former WH Smith site in Clifton Village.
Speare Developments, which has bought the site, has applied to the city council for the “meanwhile use” for the land for two years while they develop their long-term plans for it.
Most people and business owners in the area are pleased at the prospect of the site in Clifton Down Road, derelict for more than 15 years, coming back into use but some close neighbours are concerned about possible noise and nuisance and potential parking problems.
The developers envisage a restaurant in a stretched tent marquee seating up to 150 people, with two shipping containers housing a kitchen and a cellar and bar. They say the space will occasionally be used for workshops, demos, community events and a market.
The restaurant and the market will be managed by the same tenant, who has not yet been officially named, although Clifton Ward Councillors Paula O’Rourke and Jerome Thomas say that Speare Developments are working with renowned chef Josh Eggleton.
The councillors say the proposal will enhance the area and support surrounding businesses. They say planning conditions and licensing restrictions could be used to mitigate any problems.
However, some people living nearby have submitted objections to the plan. They are particularly concerned about recorded music and suggest that the restaurant should be restricted to daytime use.
One said: “As it stands, this plan for an open-air restaurant and bar will be hugely disruptive to residents living in the surrounding area in terms of noise pollution from ambient music, drinkers and diners eating outside until 10pm in a residential neighbourhood which is quiet after 6pm. No other restaurant in the area does this.
“This plan will also exacerbate traffic congestion … it will also increase the parking problem we already face as Clifton residents as 150 diners try and find somewhere to leave their car. “
Objectors say approximately 100 people in about 50 households live in Rodney Place, opposite the site, would be adversely affected.
One opponent said: “The proposal is for an over development of the site without proper consideration of the associated impact on the local residents. It should also be remembered that we are the people who support the Clifton businesses on a day-to-day basis and if residents are driven out of Clifton by this sort of insensitive proposal which ignores local people, then Clifton will lose the community feel that makes it so special and local businesses will suffer as well.”
However, the council has received as many comments in favour of the scheme as against. One said: “I fully support this wonderful proposal which will bring much needed vibrancy and a fresh new approach to the dreadful eyesore that has blighted this prominent location in Clifton Village.It is wholly in keeping with the market atmosphere of the Victorian arcade and Boyces Avenue.”
Another said: “For too long this derelict site has been a blot on the village landscape and a scandalous waste of available land. The meanwhile use will allow the site to be brought into use quickly and boost activity and employment in the village before formal development starts on the eventual building.
WH Smith closed in 2010 and the site has remained unused other than for a temporary ice rink in 2014. The eyesore site is now covered in weeds, shrubs and bushes and is surrounded by hoardings.
The application is on the council planning portal, ref 26/10409/F