CITY centre campaigners are issuing a passionate plea to stop more York shops being converted into restaurants, bars and cafes.

York is running the risk of losing shoppers entirely, they say, as the impact of out-of-town centres like Vangarde coincided with an increase in eateries in the city centre.

Members of the Guildhall Planning Panel, a voluntary group which scrutinises planning applications for the Guildhall ward, say they have seen a surge in the number of properties being converted from shops into cafes, bars or restaurants.

They have been objecting strenuously for around three years, saying the situation is unsustainable, but have been frustrated to see most applications approved, and retail space lost.

Chairman Chris Edghill said: “We have been objecting to the quantity of restaurants, bars and cafes. You only have to walk around town to see how many bars and restaurants there are.”

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The 12 people on the panel, who include an architect, a civil engineer, and business owners, all live or work in the ward and are passionate about the city centre, he added. They are worried that with fewer and fewer shops to attract people, the city centre offer will soon be “unbalanced” and have nothing to offer locals who want to shop, rather than eat and drink.

Mr Edgill added: “I know a lot of people who do not come into town at all many more. At the weekend, it’s becoming a no-go zone, and if people want to go shopping they go to the Vangarde.”

A change of use application has recently been approved for 10 Coppergate – the former That’s Entertainment shop - and another is being considered for former council offices on George Hudson Street. The panel hit out strongly at the Coppergate scheme, and were especially critical of comments from planning agents who said the street was too quiet for a shop.

On George Hudson Street, planning agents have argued that because the surrounding units are restaurants, retailers will instead looking for homes where they can be surrounded by other shops where people will “window shop”.

Recent conversions or planned conversions from shops to restaurants, cafes or bars in York include:

  • Sutler's opened in the old Army and Navy Stores in Fossgate
  • Macdonalds in Fossgate is soon to become Cosy Club
  • Next door, Cosy Time has opened in the old Barbican Bookshops unit
  • Turtle Bay opened in Little Stonegate, in the back of the old Laura Ashley shop 
  • Ambiente opened in Fossgate, in the old Mor Music shop. Mor Music moved to larger premises behind.
  • Veeno opened in the old Oddbins shop in Piccadilly
  • Pavement Vaults opened in the old Jessops shop in Piccadilly
  • The old Swarovski shop and TSB Bank in St Helen's Square are to become a Carluccio's restaurant
  • Christmas Angels in High Petergate closed and is to become an Argentinian restaurant
  • Part of the old Greenwoods menswear site on the corner of Coppergate and Castlegate has become a restaurant called Source
  • Bicis Y Más opened in the old GA White furniture shop in Walmgate
  • Silvano's opened in Venture studio in Micklegate
  • BrewDog are to open in the old Portfolio Studios building in Micklegate

The panel’s concerns are shared by some of the city centre’s councillors. Guildhall ward representative Janet Looker said: “This is a worry for those of us who work in or represent the ward, but it is also a reflection of the trend within retail.”

With the rise of online shopping and out-of-town retail inner city locations like York have become more reliant on the food and drink trade, she said, meaning it is difficult for planners alone to stop the trend.

“It’s not planning’s job to decide what is sustainable and what is unsustainable,” Cllr Looker added.

On top of that, thriving streets like Fossgate show that cafes and restaurants can reinvigorate areas.

But, she said, York could do with some sort of city centre retail plan, and both Cllr Looker and Mr Edgill spoke of limits on the proportion of shops which could be converted in any one street – stopping areas changing their characters too drastically.

Andrew Lowson, of the York Business Improvement District (BID) said he wanted to talk to business about what they thought of the retail and restaurant balance in the city, and was working on an “Indie York” project to promote and help independent shops.

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RESTAURATEURS behind both established and new businesses in York have responded to the fears about an "unbalanced" city centre.

Michael Hjort, who owns well-known restaurants Meltons on Scarcroft Road and the Walmgate Ale House, said the city certainly saw a lot of new openings among the food trade, but that competition was good for the industry.

The debate is more about the "changing nature" of the city centre, he said.
"I have some sympathy with the planning panel, because if the volume of shops falls below a certain level in the city centre, that is not going to be good for it as a shopping destination. But there are other ways of bringing new shops on-line - for example, how many banks do we need in the city centre?"

At the other end of the scale, Adam and Katie Lyons have been running their restaurant Source on Castlegate for just five weeks. They had to apply for change of use before they could open up in the former shop unit.

Adam said: "I like to think we have added value to Castlegate. It had not been a particularly nice street with a lot of boarded up shops, but then businesses like Pairings popped up and have added value to the street. People now say Castlegate could be the new Fossgate, and I love that."

For him, the number of conversions is an unavoidable result of online shopping and changing high streets.

"I come from a family of shopkeepers so I understand the death of the high street.
"It's a real real problem but it's not going away because the likes of Amazon and Ebay have killed the high street."

Across the city on Goodramgate brothers Wes and Joel Taylor opened Cut and Chase in the site of a former cafe business Kafeneion so did not have to go through the planning system.

Wes said: "I wouldn't say the market in York is saturated - you can struggle to get a table sometimes on a Friday and Saturday night."

However, the city does have a growing number of chains and multinationals who can afford to take on the prime locations, and threatening to crowd out independent locally owned businesses, he said.