The council has approved renovation plans for the new restaurant at the site of Whitby’s former Star Inn the Harbour.
Ahead of its official opening next Monday (April 29), the Pescado Lounge’s renovation plan has been given the green light.
The harbour-front building will see the replacement of its central three glazing panels with new aluminium access doors and new access steps and handrails.
The two outer panels will be replaced by a set of bi-folding aluminium glazed doors and steel guarding to the exterior.
All of the building’s existing window and door frames will also be painted in black.
North Yorkshire Council officers said that the changes to the pagoda-style building were considered “minimal in nature” and were not likely to harm the character of the area.
The red-brick and sandstone building lies within the town’s conservation zone in a prominent harbour location.
The Pescado Lounge will be the Whitby branch of the Bristol-based company Loungers UK, and is set to open next week.
The company has also submitted a licensing application for the Lounge on the site of Whitby’s former Michelin-listed restaurant and tourist information centre on Langborne Road.
Including the Marisco Lounge in Scarborough, it has more than 200 venues nationwide.
Heavy footfall
According to the applicant, the lounge will be “a neighbourhood café-bar combining elements of a restaurant, British pub and coffee shop culture”.
A council report concluded that the proposed renovation was “considered to be of a good standard of design and would correspond well with the host building and surrounding area”.
Alex Kalebic’s application was approved by the authority subject to conditions on design and the use of materials.
The harbour site has some of the heaviest footfall in Whitby and was previously home to the Star Inn the Harbour which shut down in November 2022.
The Michelin-listed restaurant closed after owners blamed the former Scarborough Council for a “lack of support” through the Covid-19 pandemic.