A FORMER convenience store is to be brought back into use as a coffee shop and meeting house for community groups.
The Christian applicants behind the plans for the former Premier shop have stated they hope to provide training for people looking to enter the workforce, help local food businesses get started, support local artists and help revive their high street.
A bid to convert the former shop, at 56 and 56A on Windsor Road, in Griffithstown, Pontypool into four residential units was rejected by planners in 2021 with revised plans approved in early 2023, which maintained the ground floor for commercial use in line with the earlier decision.
The shop has been empty since the Premier Store moved to new premises two doors down on Windsor Road.
Applicant Reverend Alex Welby has now been granted permission to convert the ground and lower ground floors from a shop for a mixed-use including a meeting place, coffee house and internet café/restaurant. The upper floor will remain in residential use.
The application set out the vision for the premises and stated: “We see the space as an opportunity to build on a simple coffee house concept, by serving a wide range of needs, individuals and groups within the community.
“The site cannot trade effectively on ‘passing trade and footfall’ and it is hoped that this concept will provide a go-to for numbers of people and help regenerate the trade in the street which presently has many closed outlets.”
The application explains how it is hoped the coffee shop can also support community activities and states: ” It is designed to be an outreach hub for services for county council/local council support where such services need to (be) located in a neutral building within the community.”
It is also set out how it is intended “to offer a way back into work for those with a poor work history/or an illness history that has denied them regular work”, be an outlet for those starting food businesses to sell their products with “little risk” and provide a gallery space for emerging and local artists to sell their artwork.
Local groups will also be able to book space and the application states it could also be used by churches: ” As the owners are Christians, It is designed to serve the churches in the area to provide a neutral space for them to run courses and gatherings that is a ‘church without walls’.”
The property has an existing shopfront, retaining many of its original features, which Torfaen Borough Council planning officer Mia McAndrew said, in a report which approved the application, “has a positive contribution to the character and appearance of the streetscape.”
A new door to create a more level access is the only alteration to the front of the building while a new door would also be added at the rear ground floor level while a balcony with French doors would be created for the ground floor commercial unit at the back.
Three objections were received due to a potential increase in demand for parking and a claim “use of the new balcony could cause neighbouring dogs to bark which would impact/disrupt the street”.
Ms McAndrew said: “Concern regarding dogs barking is noted but this is not a planning matter. Environmental Health should be able to assist if there is a noise nuisance.”