Food hall plans for former Poulton-le-Fylde police station to be decided on this week

The station, on Market Place, was shut down in 2018 and the site was bought by Choice Hotels in February 2019, with the company announcing plans to create Bobby’s Yard, offering top local, independent food and drink. If given the go ahead, the plans will transform Market Place, the pedestrian retail area in the heart of Poulton.

Read more: Work on swish new Poulton wine bar still on hold over a year after planners' green light

Sign up for our free newsletters now The plans are a re-submission of an application which was actually approved by Wyre’s planning comittee back in March 2020.

But the progress was delayed by the Covid lockdowns and the permission expired.

That meant the application had to be submitted again and the scheme was lodged with Wyre planners again in March 2023 by Preston-based planning consultants Smith and Love, with the client now known as BY1 Limited (listed at the same address as Choice Hotels).

In August last year the planning agents were confident it would soon go before the commitee in a matter of weeks - but it took longer than anticipated.

When do planners decide?

It only now, however, that councillors will finally get to rule on the scheme, when it goes before the committee at Wyre Civic Centre, Poulton, on Wednesday (May 1).

The application is for a change of use of the former Police Station to create a mixed use retail and leisure development comprising a food/retail hall, the erection of a part single and part 2 storey rear extension (following demolition of existing garages to the rear) and inclusion of external seating areato the front.

The planning officer is recommending that full planning permission is given to the scheme, which must also pass tests relating to odour and noise emissions.

What do the plans include?

The plans would allow the station's unique archway entrance to be kept in place as a key part of the outside facade, while the building's interior would be redesigned and its roof replaced with glass skylights to create an 'industrial chic' appearance. A large dining hall is intended as the focal point of the development, positioned at the end of a public thoroughfare surrounded by retail spaces. On market days, additional stalls would be set up in the thoroughfare.

What they say

Designers,  Stanton Andrew Architects said: “It is the ambition that the conversion of the redundant site into a modern-day retail and food market hall will bring together the local community and provide a platform for smaller scale artisan vendors to promote their business.

“The ambition is not just limited to the development itself, but rather that of the whole Market Place."