PLANS have been lodged to sell alcohol in a proposed new restaurant on the site of a former Greggs in the Lake District.

The Schelly Ltd has submitted an application for a premises licence to Westmorland and Furness Council for the sale of alcohol from midday to 11:45pm every day at the site of the former Greggs in Ambleside on Church Street.

The grade-II listed building has been vacant since December 2021 when Greggs moved out of the premises.

There is a black plaque on the wall above the shop indicating that Lakes poet William Wordsworth had his office there from 1813 to 1843 when he was a distributor of stamps for Westmorland.

Documents submitted by the applicant state: “Previously a Greggs the Bakers, 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 owner of the Old Stamp House restaurant, which occupies the basement space in the building, wants to change the premises above into a tapas-style restaurant.

Licensing documents add: “The premises will be used as licensed restaurant to offer casual dining, in an exciting ‘small plates’ format – focusing on locally sourced and seasonal produce.”

According to planning documents the new restaurant will house a new bar with counter seating for 12, alongside window counter seating a further ten people.

There will also be an open kitchen area, a drinks bar, wine fridges, a wash-up area, a new accessible toilet for customers, a store room and a staff WC, plans add.

The Old Stamp House restaurant is run by Ryan Blackburn and has a Michelin star. It was the subject of a BBC documentary hosted by celebrity chef Tom Kerridge.

According to licensing documents the premises will seat a maximum of 30 people at any given time and will provide up to nine full time jobs.

Planning documents state: “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.”