Move over Greggs...new Kettering drive-thru could now become a Costa Coffee

A new Kettering drive-thru which was earmarked to become a Greggs now looks set to be taken on by Costa Coffee.

Plans to build a unit in Stanier Close, just off Northfield Avenue, were approved in November 2022 with the bakery chain confirmed as its future occupant about a year ago.

But updated planning documents submitted in October said a potential new operator was looking at the site – and now Costa Coffee has applied for permission to put its drive-thru signs up there.

The Northants Telegraph has asked Costa Coffee to comment on their plans for the site and when it could open but we are yet to receive a response.

We have also asked Greggs if they have abandoned plans to take on the unit but have not received a response.

Previously submitted planning documents said the new drive-thru, on a site next to the existing McDonald’s, would create about 15 jobs.

Those nearby had raised concerns about the impact it would have on the already-congested junction with Northfield Avenue, with one saying added traffic would be ‘unbearable’ and that there is already chaos at peak times.

Kettering Town Council said the extra traffic created by the development would put too much pressure put on the junction with Northfield Avenue.

But a transport statement submitted as part of the approved drive-thru plan said that Stanier Close is a private highway and that any queues would not impact on the wider highway network. North Northamptonshire Council planning officers did not object to it.