A restaurant is planned in a former bar and ‘escape rooms’ in York’s city centre.

Hull-based SASA Group Ltd seeks to change the use of the empty building at 7-9 Piccadilly.

The venue promises to create 5 full-time and 5 part-time jobs and if approved, would be open daily from 8am to midnight.

It would add to other eateries in Piccadilly, including Pepe’s Piri Piri chicken, which opened this month in the former Argos, and German Doner Kebab, which opened in 2022.

RECOMMENDED READING:

The three-storey building’s most recent use was as the Piccadilly Café Bar, which closed in February this year. From 2019, for some time, it was also known as Rehab Piccadilly.

What set the café apart from others in the city, was a Harry Potter-themed escape room in the basement.

Previous uses include the Veeno Italian wine bar, a specialist wine and cheese shop from Etruscan Wines and an Oddbins off-license.

Planning documents submitted to City of York Council says the site reverting to an eating establishment should be acceptable in principle.

A report said: “To facilitate the proposed use, no changes are required to the exterior of the building and the internal layout will also remain as existing.”

The application continued: “The proposal is relatively straightforward insofar as that there would be no alterations to the façade of the building, no increase in footprint and no changes to the internal layout.

“The previous use means that the ground floor of the building will have main dining area, bar and open kitchen within the main floor space area. At the rear of the ground floor would be a pot wash and barrel store. The basement area will use the rooms to form a private dining and storage.”

“This proposal offers the opportunity for a new suitable development compatible within a former use and others in the locality. In the context of evidence of Yorks wider needs, we consider there to be a planning case to justify the principle of development.”

The development would not harm the established character and appearance of the area, it would create jobs and allow the applicant to expand their business by opening in this new location.

Recommending approval, the application concluded: “It is recognised that the proposed restaurant use is an effective re-use of an existing building but will not result in the loss of retail space within this Primary Shopping area as the site has not been in such a use since 2016.

“The absence of any changes to the building, both internally and externally, ensures that the character and appearance of this part of the Central Historic Core Conservation Area and the setting of nearby Listed Buildings is unharmed.”

Taking account economic benefits and the site’s previous use, the application met local and national planning policies, the application also concluded.