Council want Costa to close – Walsingham Planning win an appeal to keep it open, trading and popular!

Costa Coffee instructed Walsingham Planning to seek permission to open one of their coffee shops in a former shoe shop in a prime location in the centre of Beverley, an attractive market town in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

The Council only approved the Listed Building application for works to the building - they refused the planning application for the change of use to a coffee shop as well as advertisement consent and listed building consent for the Costa signage.

The Council felt that the opening of a coffee shop (rather than a purely retail shop) in the premises detracted from their strict policy of maintaining a very high level of shops in the centre of the town. This was despite Walsingham Planning having submitted a wealth of information and having undertaken retail surveys to demonstrate that a Costa Coffee shop would attract far more customers than many “normal” shops.

Subsequent Advertisement and Listed Building applications for the signage were approved, but the Council forced the issue by serving an Enforcement Notice on Costa Coffee which required them to cease trading.

Walsingham Planning submitted appeals against the decision to refuse the change of use application (and the subsequent Enforcement Notice) and instructed a barrister to act for Costa Coffee at the Public Inquiry. Walsingham Planning acted as Expert Witness and persuaded the Inspector that a coffee shop in this location was acceptable and an asset to the town. The Inspector allowed the appeal for the use of the premises as a coffee shop and quashed the Enforcement Notice.

This Costa Coffee shop is trading well and proving extremely popular with tourists and locals alike.