One of Newbury's oldest buildings could become a restaurant

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French restaurant chain Côte has applied to move into the premises of the Grade II-listed building at 102/103 Northbrook Street, which was recently discovered to date back to the reign of Henry VII.
Analysis of the timbers had shown that the building, once well known as the home of the Tudor Café and which had more recently housed branches of Clarks and Accessorize chainstores, date back to 1497.
The analysis, called tree ring dating – or dendrochronology – was commissioned by Newbury Town Council’s heritage working group. This means that the building predates St Nicolas Church, which was constructed in the early 1500s, and makes it one of the five oldest in the town.
Côte is proposing to amalgamate the two vacant units to provide a 152- cover restaurant.
In its application, the restaurant firm promised to retain the timber frames on the ground floor of no 103 and on the first floor, at the eastern end of the property.
A small area of decking is proposed to the front of the site to provide a level outdoor seating area for customers.
As it is a listed building and considered a heritage asset, the application will have to first be referred to the council’s conservation officer before any decision is made.
A ‘heritage asset’ is defined as any building, monument, site, place, area or landscape identified as having a degree of significance meriting consideration in planning decisions because of its heritage interest.
No 102 has been vacant since August 2013 while no 103 has been vacant since June 2012. A final decision is expected from West Berkshire Council on September 18