A PLAN to turn a beauty salon in the city centre into a new café has been given the green light by the council.

Beauty salon Pura in Broad Street, Worcester, will be turned into a new café under plans by chef Ashley Quinn after the move was backed by planners at Worcester City Council.

A new Victorian-style shopfront would be built to match neighbouring buildings in Broad Street and fix the damage to the current entrance.

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The existing beauty salon Pura would move to the rear of the ground floor grade II listed building and run separately from the new café.

In a report outlining the approval, the council said: “The proposed use as a café would diversify the current use and result in the current owner being able to remain in business at the address.

“A café would be considered a use commonplace in shopping centres and the host property is fairly small.

“There could possibly be more noise than the existing use as a beauty salon but this would only be measured when the business was up and running and if complaints were raised, investigated by Worcestershire Regulatory Services.”

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Mr Quinn set up Cafe Vienna, later renamed Quinn’s, in 1996 in Crowngate Shopping Centre in Friary Walk before leaving in 2018. The café closed six months later.

The move was welcomed by conservation officers at Worcester City Council – particularly the proposed new shopfront.

“The proposed change of use and its associated works are acceptable,” the council’s planners said.

“Both a cafe and a food takeaway use have been associated with the premises in the past, and the shopfront proposed for alteration is most probably one consented in 1993.

“The internal changes only relate to modern fabric too, and the proposed shopfront design is pleasingly both symmetrical and traditional.

Earlier this week, plans were revealed which would see a yet-to-be-revealed restaurant taking over a vacant unit in Broad Street where chemists John Wheeley Lea and William Henry Perrins first joined forces to create Worcestershire Sauce more than 180 years ago.

The building was last used by café Patisserie Valerie until 2019 and then the RSPCA before suddenly closing in April.