A new restaurant is planning to move into the home vacated by York’s longest running shop.
Restaurant chain Giggling Squid is planning to move into the former Banks Musicroom unit on Lendal.
The Thai tapas restaurant has revealed a brand that contrasts sharply with the former music shop.
Planning documents state: “A new shopfront is proposed to the front elevation of the building.
“The existing shopfront arrangement has been in place for at least the last 60 years. However the arrangement is set up for retail display with large plate glass windows down to the ground and a very deep signage fascia.
“It is at odds with the current conservation area thinking where shopfronts are preferred to be of a proportion which complements the host building. Therefore a new joinery shopfront is proposed.”
According to its website, Giggling Squid was founded by husband and wife team Pranee and Andy Laurillard “out of a determination to bring the buzz of Thai mealtimes to the UK – energetic, informal, adventurous and welcoming”.
They opened their first restaurant in a fisherman’s cottage in Brighton, and now have around 50 venues across the UK.
Banks – said to be the oldest shop in Britain – closed after 267 years last March.
It was to allow the parent business to “focus on continuing the successful growth” of its online sales.
You can read and comment on the Giggling Squid plans on the City of York Council planning website.