Former Pizza Hut site in Cleveleys awaits next move after green light for padel tennis cafe

The proposals consist of the erection of three padel courts and the use of the vacant restaurant as a cafe, with associated areas of hardstanding, means of enclosure, lighting and associated infrastructure.

Planning officers at Wyre gave the scheme the green light, with a number of conditions, on December 20.

The premises, known as Unit A of Jubilee Leisure Park on North Promenade, are currently empty, with work on the new development yet to get underway.

Applicants, the Property Alliance Group, who submitted the proposals in August last year, have been approached for an update on the scheme, which attracted four letters of support from local residents.

Padel tennis, a racquet sport which is a mix between tennis and squash, has become one of the fastest-growing sports in the world.

Each court is one third of the size of a tennis court and is generally surrounded by walls of glass and metallic mesh.

Planning consultants NJL Consulting stated on behalf of the application: “Unit A, formerly occupied by Pizza Hut, is to be repurposed as a café for use by both padel players and the general public.

“It will be repurposed (including minor demolition) to deliver a new 314.6sqm café incorporating ancillary padel facility functions (equipment hire etc) and outdoor seating areas.

“The outdoor seating areas will be provided to the front of the café and to the north of the padel court next to the café.

“Given that the development seeks to repurpose an existing structure, it is our view that the proposed café bears no material impact on the surrounding character.”

Padel facility users would utilise the existing car park associated with Jubilee Leisure Park.

The premises have been empty for three years, since RJ’s Sports Bar was forced to shut down after the owner said he could no longer guarantee the safety of customers and staff following repeated incidents of anti-social behaviour.

RJ’s closed its doors on Saturday, January 29 2022, just four months after its grand opening in September 2021.

The site was previously occuped by Pizza Hut, which opened on the Jubilee Park site in 2006 but became a casulaty of the Covid pamdemic and c;osed in 2020.

It is the second recent planning application which will radically alter the use of the Jubilee Leisure Park units.

A planning application for a change of use of the vacant Harvester pub into a veterinary practice run by Andrew Mellor Veterinary Surgeons has also been approved.