Renovation plan submitted for Whitby's former Star Inn the Harbour restaurant site

External renovations have been proposed at the new Pescado Lounge, located on a prime piece of real estate on Langborne Road that has been empty since 2022.

Last month the company submitted a licencing application for the Lounge on the site of Whitby’s former Michelin-listed restaurant and tourist information centre.

Plans submitted to the council by Alex Kalebic of Loungers UK propose redecorating the exterior of the building and installing new bi-fold doors, steps, and railings and handrails.

The company is also recruiting for several positions at the new site.

Documents submitted to the council state that the alterations would be “minimal in nature and in keeping with the existing look and feel of the unit”.

The new bi-fold doors would be manufactured from PPC aluminium steel and finished in black and would “provide an additional access point into the building”.

According to the applicant, the Lounge will be “a neighbourhood café-bar combining elements of a restaurant, British pub and coffee shop culture”.

As of November last year, the Bristol-based company Loungers UK Ltd said it had more than 200 Lounges nationwide, including the Marisco Lounge in Scarborough.

The company is advertising several chef and management positions at the Whitby site, with salaries ranging from £27,000 to £40,000 a year.

The harbour site has some of the heaviest footfall in Whitby and was home to the Star Inn the Harbour which shut down in November 2022.

The Michelin-listed restaurant closed after owners blamed the former Scarborough Council for a “lack of support” through the Covid-19 pandemic.