Starbucks drive thru coffee shop bid at former Meadow House Inn site in Berwick is approved

Although the bid has been submitted by Cliff Court Developments Ltd, the documents sent to Northumberland County Council include an operational brief that reveals the new development would be run by the Starbucks chain.

Now that the local authority has approved the bid under delegated powers, this will add to the Costa Coffee outlet at Loaning Meadows Retail Park in the north area of the town.

The report from council planners to go with the approval includes the following: “Having considered the proposal against the Northumberland Local Plan (NLP) and the National Planning Policy Framework, it is considered that change in use from a disused public house to a cafe and drive thru is supported by policy STP 1, STP 2 and STP 3 of the NLP in that the development supports sustainable economic growth within a main town.

“The principle of development is therefore acceptable in this respect.

“In terms of residential amenity, there are no dwellings within close proximity to the development and therefore will not result in loss of outlook, overshadowing, loss of light, overbearing or loss of privacy because of the proposal.”

The operational brief states that the expected daily transactions would be between 530 and 650 and the trade would be approximately 50 per cent drive thru, 35 per cent dine in and 15 per cent takeaway.

It adds: ‘Based on the expected trading level of the proposed store and comparisons with other Starbucks drive thru facilities, we would expect in the order of 30 to 40 vehicle arrivals in the busiest hour.

‘We expect to be hiring 15 full-time and ten part-time members of staff from the area, providing full training to meet the expected trading levels.’

The other documents include a planning statement that confirms the existing building, which ‘has been empty for some time’, provides 350sq m of internal ground floor area that will be solely for the use of the coffee shop.

It also includes the following: ‘It is requested that the opening hours are changed to opening daily at 5.30am and closing at 11pm.’