Former Ludlow restaurant could face same fate as town’s 'eyesore' Costa Coffee, councillor warns
Plans have been submitted to turn the building into flats
A Ludlow councillor has warned a vacant restaurant could be left standing empty for years if a new use isn’t found soon.
Plans to turn the former Chang Thai bar and restaurant into a block of 10 apartments were submitted to Shropshire Council for the second time in August this year.
The restaurant, which had been run out of the Grade II-listed building on Market Street for two decades, closed in July 2024.
Previous plans, which proposed extending the building to create 11 one- and two-bedroom apartments, were thrown out after planning officers determined the scheme would “create an overdeveloped and cramped feel to the site”.
The new, amended scheme has reduced the number of flats from 11 to 10, with developers claiming there is “no reasonable prospect” of the site remaining as pub or restaurant.
It’s a view shared by Ludlow councillor Andy Boddington, who said he believes it is unlikely the building could return to its previous use.
He said: “Retail activity is increasingly concentrated in Ludlow’s primary shopping streets while secondary streets are changing.
“There are already 13 pubs and bars in the town centre, together with licensed restaurants and cafés.
“The choice is not between flats and some guaranteed thriving pub or restaurant. It is between finding a viable new use and allowing an important historic building to deteriorate further.
“I don’t want to see another building like the former Costa Coffee standing empty for years.”
A Grade II-listed building on King Street was home to the coffee chain until May 2023 and has since fallen into a state of disrepair.
Ludlow Town Council have objected to the new plans for the Chang Thai building, but have encouraged the developer to make some small changes to the scheme to make it agreeable.
They include reducing the number of flats to eight instead of ten and imposing a condition that would prohibit the flats being used as holiday lets.
The full application is available to view on Shropshire Council’s planning portal using reference number: 26/03010/FUL
You can find out more about planning applications and planned roadworks where you live by visiting publicnoticeportal.uk/shropshire-star
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