An empty pub in York is set to be converted into a coffee shop despite the council’s efforts to save it.
A proposal to turn The Bay Horse, in Main Street, Fulford, into a branch of Starbucks was rejected by City of York Council planners last year.
But that decision was overturned on appeal – and plans have just been lodged to install signs bearing the US coffee chain Starbucks’ name and branding on the front of the building.
The revamp would include fitting the pub out with Starbucks’ green and white siren logo, according to the application.
It comes after a government planning inspector overturned City of York Council’s refusal of plans for a coffee shop and three flats lodged after it closed in early 2023.
The pub closed following a period of poor trading, according to plans for the conversion.
Plans to turn it into a coffee shop and flats were refused on the grounds that it would mean “the loss of a valued community facility – a public house with rooms – and this loss is not justified”.
But the planning inspector ruled there was no realistic prospect of a pub reopening in the building following its sale by previous owners Red Cat Pub Company.
The inspector stated there were two pubs nearby, The Plough and The Saddle Inn, which also offered dining services and outdoor seating as the Bay Horse had.
They added there were no coffee shops in the immediate area and the plans would see the ground floor of the empty building put back into use for the public.
The council’s refusal of a planned 2m-high fence at the front of the site and of a new awning on the building was upheld.
Plans for the Bay Horse follow an application to licence the Starbucks outlet in York Station for alcohol sales lodged in December.
Starbucks had 1,168 stores in the UK as of October 2023, according to its accounts for that financial year.
The company stated in its results at the time that it planned to open 100 new UK stores by March 2025.