National hospitality chain takes over Tavistock clothing store

The cafe and bar will focus on family dining

A national hospitality is to open a new cafe and bar in Tavistock.

Taking over a former M&Co clothes store on Brook Street, the Lounge will focus on family dining.

The applicant, a company called Loungers, had wanted to serve alcohol from 10am to midnight all week, but West Devon Borough licensing committee agreed to 11pm Sundays to Thursdays after concerns from local residents.

The two-floor outlet will have an outdoor terrace on the first floor and be open all day from 9am with the flexibility to open earlier for breakfast. The outside area won’t open beyond 10pm and people won’t be abllowed to smoke or vape there. Staff will  be trained to adhere to a noise management plan.

One very close neighbour feared their family’s sleep would be disrupted.

Robert Botkai, representing Loungers, said a sound absorbing acoustic screen would block the view and reduce noise from the terrace to neighbours’ properties.

Loungers had numerous premises in close proximity to neighbours and there have not been any reviews of licenses or complaints, he said, although he understood the worries when someone was applying for a late night licence. However, noise experts were satisfied there wouldn’t be any disturbance, and background music would be indoors only.

He told the committee that outdoor areas for dining had become more important since the pandemic and the “world had changed” on smoking with “very few customers” wanting to do so.

Jeremy Burton-Dickie, Loungers’ regional operations manager, said: “We tend to attract fairly nice crowd. When we say we are closing we very rarely have any issues.”

Loungers run cafe-bars and restaurants with brands including Lounge, Cosy Club and Brightside. Among its 200 premises across the UK, it runs Secco Lounge at Royal William Yard in Plymouth, Cosy Clubs in Plymouth and Exeter, and Brightside at on the A38 at Liskeard and Haldon Hill, and on the A303 near Honiton.

Tavistock’s Lounge will be called Granito and is expected to open in the next two-to-three months.