Sunderland cafe Cole Kitchen in Roker applies to keep offering takeaway service

Sunderland City Council’s planning department has received an application for Cole Kitchen at the Side Cottage in St Georges Terrace in Roker.

This includes a bid for the business to be permanently classed as a hot food takeaway opening between 9am-3pm, seven days a week.

According to a design and access statement submitted with the plans, the business has been operating as a hot food takeaway “under the Coronavirus Regulations successfully for the past two years”.

The design and access statement adds: “The current occupier, Cole Kitchen, has been operating as a café however adapted the business to a takeaway during COVID lockdowns making use of the coronavirus legislation which was implemented at the time.

“Due to this legislation being withdrawn, this application seeks to formalise the business as a hot food takeaway”.

According to planning documents, the site is historically recorded as a post office and “pre-dates the residential development of Roker”.

In recent years, plans have emerged to change the use of the shop/café to a residential dwelling, but it is understood these have not been implemented.

A heritage statement submitted with the plans said the building is assessed as being “low value” and that the impact of the application would be “negligible”.

The heritage statement adds: “In a similar manner to the exterior, the interior has been changed throughout numerous different operators throughout its history and now consists of a staff toilet to the rear and kitchen/serving area to the front.

“To aid in these changes, surface mounted services including drainage, electrical trunking and water supply is evident internally.

“Due to these changes, the interior of the building is of low heritage value.”

Under the plans the layout of the building would remain unchanged with the kitchen area, to the rear of the ground floor, having a ventilation extract in place.

A decision on the application is expected to be made later this year once a period of council consultation has concluded.

For more information on the planning application, visit Sunderland City Council’s online planning portal and search reference: 22/01391/FUL