A new sushi restaurant will soon replace a shop in Nottingham city centre. The Phone Clinic on Exchange Walk will be replaced by a Kokoro sushi restaurant after Nottingham City Council approved plans on July 19.
Kokoro is a Korean/Japanese restaurant, founded in the UK more than a decade ago. The shop will now be refitted to form a new sushi & bento café takeaway and to create a new high seating area to the front looking out through a redecorated shopfront.
According to planning documents, the focal point of the eatery will be a glass fronted counter serving and showing “freshly prepared sushi on chilled displays”. There will also be a hot food display built into the counter where a variety of freshly prepared food will be displayed.
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Environmental Health concluded that due to no residential properties being nearby, details of any noise impact were not considered necessary. They also found it "unreasonable" to restrict the new takeaway's opening hours as nearby uses are not restricted by opening hours and there are no nearby residential properties.
The council found the designs to be acceptable as the existing shopfront and the location of the pillars will be retained, stating it would "enhance the appearance of the Conservation Area". In a Nottingham City Council report on the decision, a planning officer said: "The neighbouring buildings are all commercial properties and there are no residential properties adjoining the site on all sides. Given the site is located within the City Centre it is considered the takeaway aspect of the café would not have a harmful impact on neighbour amenity.
"A preoccupation condition will be included to require evidence the submitted ventilation scheme has been installed. Given there are no residential properties facing the rear yard it is considered the three AC units on the rear elevation would not impact neighbour amenity."
According to its website the Kokoro franchise now has more than 50 locations across the UK, including Leicester, Leeds and Liverpool. A statement on Kokoro's website said: "We have stores across the country and customers flock to eat our hearty soups and scrumptious sushi. Our focus on quality service, supported by the use of fresh ingredients and environmentally conscious packaging ensures we meet the needs of the modern customer.
"Kokoro in Japanese translates to heart, mind or soul. These are the most important ingredients in Kokoro’s food. The key to success is very simple: you keep the food tasty, fresh, and healthy. The hard part is how you do it and how you maintain it."
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