A top chef has revealed plans to open a new restaurant in the Lake District.
Ryan Blackburn, who runs the Michelin starred Old Stamp House in Ambleside, wants to transform the town’s vacant Greggs store into a new venue offering casual dining.
He is one of the directors of family business The Schelly Ltd, which wants to offer tapas-style food, focusing on locally sourced and seasonal produce at the Church Street venue. It will create up to nine full-time jobs.
The family also run Kysty in the town.
The Schelly Ltd has applied for a premises licence for the new restaurant with Westmorland and Furness Council.
Documents submitted as part of the application said: “Previously a Greggs, it sits above a successful restaurant – the Old Stamp House Restaurant. The team from this restaurant have taken occupancy of this premises in order to expand and diverse their restaurant offering in the town.”
The Grade II-listed building has been vacant since December 2021.
The new restaurant would include a bar, with counter seating for 12 and a window counter for 10 people.
According to licensing documents the premises would seat a maximum of 30 people at any given time.
The application added: “This is simply a modest extension/diversification to an existing restaurant in a building dominated by a variety of town centre uses.
“There remain several shops and other uses in the immediate and wider area and the change of use of this shop would not harm the viability of the town centre, but rather will continue to contribute to it.”
