11:10am Wednesday 17th March 2010
By Jon Austin
A FINE-DINING restaurant as well as new shops and offices are being planned off Billericay High Street.
A developer hopes to demolish storage sheds in the car park behind the Emporium soft furnishings store, before creating the multi-million pound development.
Plans submitted to Basildon Coun-cil, by Mr R Green, show the restaurant would be on the first floor, with a ground-floor shop and basement for storage.
He has given assurances the building would be in keeping with listed buildings in the area.
The application states: “The scale of the proposed development has been considered in conjunction with the surrounding listed buildings.
“The impression of the development needs to be that of a quality development, blending naturally with the design details of the existing listed buildings. The intention is to provide a high-quality, fine-dining establishment, commensurate with the surrounding area.”
Trevor Draper, who runs the Billericay Cookshop and the Empor-ium, next door to the proposed development, hinted that any new restaurant would be different to existing places to eat.
He said: “We may well take up the option to put the Cookshop in the same unit as the Emporium and put in an eaterie upstairs.
“I can’t confirm or deny we will be doing that, but if we do, it will be something different to the Italian, Indian and Chinese restaurants already in the High Street.”
There are 16 restaurants and take-aways in the High Street.
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