A new café bar is hoping to open on one of Bath’s most charming streets.
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Northumberland Place is a narrow passage crammed with bars and restaurants, hidden away opposite the city’s Guildhall.
Now a planning application has been submitted to Bath & North East Somerset Council to open a new café bar in empty premises on the street.
The planning application from Scott Martin of Skogen, a café bar and pizza restaurant just outside Solihull, seeks permission for a change of use and a redecoration of the shopfront.
Skogen wants to paint the timber parts of the shopfront light green, install a new hanging sign, and a canvas awning to cover limited outdoor seating in the summer.
The application stated: “The proposed changes are intended to enhance visitors’ experience of Northumberland Place and help preserve its distinctive historic atmosphere.
“The street remains one of Bath’s best preserved historic commercial lanes — an exemplary part of the city’s heritage environment — where the intimate, Georgian-scale urban character can still be experienced much as it was two centuries ago.”
It added: “Only essential alterations to the internal layout are proposed, as required for the building to operate as a cafe bar on the ground and first floors, with kitchen and service areas situated in the basement.
“The existing office spaces on the top floor will be refurbished and retained for continued office use.”
Rosario Bavetta of Rosario’s, whose two premises on Northumberland Passage are next door to and opposite Skogen’s planned cafe bar, lodged a comment with the council to express some qualified support for the plans.
But Rosario added: “However, I must object to the application for outside seating. As a long-established business owner of 16 years, I have planning permission for outside seating, which was recently reinforced with a two-year tables and chairs licence.
“Given the narrow pathway, there isn’t sufficient room to accommodate additional outside seating without causing congestion or affecting pedestrian traffic. This constraint poses a risk of conflicts, which may negatively impact both businesses and the community.”
Bath and North East Somerset Council will aim to decide the application by 9th June, but it stated that a listed building consent application may also be required.
You can view and comment on the application here.
John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporter
