Plans to open 'Fireway' pizza restaurant in Wellingborough town centre

Plans to turn an empty town centre unit into a pizza takeaway restaurant have been submitted.

The application for change of use from former office to hot food takeaway has been made for 4, Pebble Lane in Wellingborough.

The unit is one of a row of seven shops developed as part of the Wellingborough Library development in the early 1970s.

Currently vacant, the last occupier up to 2018 was the charity Age UK.

According to the plans, the applicant wants to establish a ‘Fireway’ pizza restaurant franchise in Pebble Lane.

Planning documents state: “Fireway has a healthy and innovative approach to fast-fired artisan Italian pizzas, having expanded since 2016 from one London based restaurant to over 120 nationwide including Scotland and Wales.”

Its proposed opening hours would be 11am to 11pm daily and the applicant says it would create up to 20 full-time equivalent jobs.

The planning documents go on to say: “The proposal supports the vitality and viability of Wellingborough Town Centre, including its night time economy.”

With regards to parking, the application says: “The proposed use would be likely to lead to a small increase in customer traffic, in comparison to the previous office use of the site.

"However, it is unlikely such activity would be materially greater than the customer numbers associated with the former use.

"In any event, being within a town centre, increased customer activity could be accommodated within this location.”

For more details on the plans, search for NW/23/00010/FUL on the Wellingborough page of the planning portal for North Northants Council.