Pizzeria plan for Fulwood shop after micropub rejected

Boarded up window at Broadway News in Fulwood Pic: Blog Preston

A Fulwood newsagents could be converted to a takeaway pizza shop after plans for a micropub on the site were rejected

Broadway News is due to close down with the current owner planning to retire and now new plans for the building have been submitted. If approved, the shop will be converted into a takeaway-only eatery named The Olives Pizzeria in Broadway, Fulwood.

A planning application has been submitted to Preston City Council by Soji Joseph and suggests operating times of 4.30-10.30pm each day. It also says the new business would employ two full-time and two part-time members of staff.

The application states the current shop is “run down” and no longer viable as a retail site “due to the growth in competition in the area and the lack of investment by the current owner”. It adds that the current owner is looking to retire and lease the building to another business.

It states: “The development would provide a positive attraction to the area and would increase its popularity giving access to an Italian take home food offer and would add to the other food offers in the area.

“We believe that the new proposed shop would reduce footfall to this busy area during the day, due to its later in the day opening times, also the food offering would reduce any undue foul cooking smells as cooking is mainly for pizza sales and with no frying on site.”

In 2022, an application to turn the building into a micropub argued it would attract a “more refined clientele” but faced dozens of objections from residents amid fears over noise and anti-social behaviour. That plan was refused by the council on the grounds it would have a “harmful, unacceptable impact” on neighbouring homes.

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