Sidmouth nightclub to transform into trendy restaurant

Owners of the closed Carinas nightclub in Sidmouth have said that they made the best efforts they could to make it profitable, as £250,000 proposals to turn it into a trendy restaurant have been revealed.

Plans to convert the ground floor area into a restaurant or a café were approved last year by East Devon District Council, which would have left the nightclub open and retain the existing dance floor and bar section accessed from Kings Lane.

But in March, Residential Trust Ltd announced with immediate effect that the nightclub would be closed, and now they have submitted plans to change the use of part of ground floor and basement from a former nightclub to restaurant/cafe use and/or drinking establishment.

Work has already started on the Fore Street part of the building that has planning permission and the owners envision that the overall site would become a ‘high-quality development’ that would serve ‘the current trend for coffee shops which become wine bars/restaurants in the evening’.

The planning application statement, submitted on behalf of Chris Eccles, director of Residential Trust Ltd says: “Despite the attempt to make the reduced nightclub area commercially viable, trade has continued to decline, and as a result, the decision was made to close the nightclub and it will not reopen under the current ownership.

“We are aware that since the recent closure announcement, local residents have spoken out in support of the nightclub. However, that verbal support has not been mirrored by actual use of the club over the past three years.”

The planning statement outlines that since the owners purchased the venue in October 2015 it was barely profitable and while the decline in their first year was halted, a fall in customers and turnover has since taken place since.

It continues: “Saturday was the only profitable evening and the situation has reached the point where it has become unsustainable and resulted in closure.

“The applicants want to be clear that they have made best effort to create a profitable business and that the closure has been forced by the on-going decline in interest in the use of the nightclub.

“The applicants accept that the closure will lead to criticism from some quarters but this decision was not made to achieve some sort of leverage – it is a commercial decision based upon a realistic assessment of the current market.The proposal would benefit Sidmouth and create an attractive business, employment and social opportunity.”