Plans for a Greek street food business to open a restaurant in a former York bar and escape room have been approved.

The application from SASA to open a restaurant in The Piccadilly bar, café and escape room has been approved by City of York Council.

It is set to see the street food business open a short distance away from its current home in Spark:York, also in Piccadilly.

Plans from the restaurant stated the move would allow SASA to expand its business by re-using the empty building.

It marks a new lease of life for the vacant unit which The Piccadilly moved into in 2019 when it initially opened as Rehab.

The owners announced the closure of the venue in February this year.

The building was previously occupied by the Veeno Italian wine café and before that it was home to the shop Oddbins.

Plans for the conversion stated that the ground floor of the building would house the main dining area.

The basement which once housed The Piccadilly’s escape room is set to be turned into a private dining space.

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Opening hours of 8am to midnight, seven days a week to serve customers and for operational purposes were proposed as part of the application.

SASA Greek Food is a family-run business based in Spark along with a number of other street food and drink traders.

It was founded by Martin Tsatsas and it draws on his Greek roots and love of food, according to its listing on Spark’s website.

Spark:York. Picture: GoogleSpark:York. Picture: Google

The application stated that the conversion would see a new restaurant open in a street which is already open to a number of similar venues.

It added that its previous uses would make the conversion relatively straight forward and it would contribute to the wider regeneration of York’s Castle Gateway area.

Plans said: “The property is currently empty and if it continues to remain empty the lack of maintenance and upkeep could lead to its decline which ultimately adversely affects the wider area.”