Gymnastics centre and cafe plan for Shrewsbury warehouse is approved
A plan to reopen an empty Shrewsbury warehouse as a gymnastics centre and cafe has been approved by council planners.
Planning officers at Shropshire Council said they hoped the new facility would generate a boost for businesses in the area, after Darwin Gymnastics and Dance successfully applied for a change of use for the building on Lancaster Road in Shrewsbury.
Meanwhile the club, which currently runs classes from Castle Business Park near Greenfields in Shrewsbury, said the move will help to grow its membership.
The new plans, approved by Shropshire Council last week, will see the building converted into a gymnastics centre featuring a full-sized competition floor, soft play facilities and a cafe.
The 8,000 square foot building was last used by kitchen installation firm Howdens in 2020, but has been vacant for the past five years.
"The building itself is considered to be well suited for the proposed use and it is considered to be appropriately located near to residential areas and to existing services and facilities including retail, leisure, entertainment and restaurants," a report from the planning authority said.
"The location of complementary uses nearby will hopefully promote linked trips to take place by users of the proposed facility.
"Although the proposal would result in the loss of a building for [employment] use. It is considered that the loss of this building for commercial use would have no significant impact on the supply of employment land in the area."
According to an operating schedule submitted with the proposals, the group plans to open the building from 9am to 9pm during the week, and from 10am to 5pm on weekends.
Works proposed for the outside of the building include repainting the frontage, security improvements and repainting of the car park.
The application was approved on July 23, with documents available to view online at the authority's planning portal via reference 25/01894/FUL.
