# New Coffee Shop come Art Gallery A1 or A3 use?



## thehungryartist (Mar 25, 2014)

Hi everyone

I am looking at a few sites to open up my first coffee shop come art gallery ( my wife is an artist) We intend to sell Coffee ( obviously!) Tea, Smoothies, Shakes, Panini's Toasties, Sandwiches, Cakes and treats. ( All top notch quality) However we are hoping to stay clear of bacon butties full breakfast's etc as although we appreciate they can be great earners we are not sure the smell will fit in with the model of Coffee shop with Art Gallery/Exhibitions/Classes etc.

We have seen a few other Coffee Shops that seem to get plenty of business with this model.

The trouble is the only good premises and locations we can find are with A1 retail use and cant seem to figure out if we could sit people inside without A3 class use? Some of the information out there seems to indicate it would be fine providing you don't need any extraction equipment?

I am also considering taking the premises on A1 and using the permitted development change of use bylaw ( May 2013) which allows temporary change of use for 2 years and applying for a change to A3 further down the line. If the change is rejected and I was not permitted to continue trading with A1 I would then exercise the 3 year break clause to end the tenancy! ( This is a worst case scenario of course)

Any thoughts from budding planning consultants or legal eagles out there would be gratefully received!


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## nvening (May 6, 2014)

Seems like a very grey area! http://www.tandtp.com/Articles/March2013.pdf


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