A change of use planning application to create a local history museum and introduce a cafe at the Braithwaite village shop has been lodged with the Lake District National Park Authority.
Planning documents say that the main reason for the proposal is to secure the long-term viability of the shop in Main Street and to do this the revenue stream needs to be increased.
The application proposes to take part of the building’s ground floor into the shop premises to form a small cafe with around 12 covers. The addition of the cafe will expand the services the shop can offer and provide local employment.
It is also planned to convert the ground floor of a two-storey building, historically used as a workshop/store, into a local history museum. A one-bed studio apartment will be created above it which would be a ‘local occupancy dwelling’ for rent and suitable for one or two persons.
A design and access statement says that the museum will showcase the history of Braithwaite and surrounding area.
“It will be a facility developed by the applicant where locals or tourists will have easy access to records, information, exhibits and artefacts synonymous with the village and immediate surrounding area which will celebrate the rich local farming and mining heritage/ culture,” says the statement. “The exhibits will include an oral history and will appeal to all age groups.”
Planning papers say that the applicant had run the village shop on a lease agreement with the previous owner since 2003 and had used best endeavours to keep the business running through many flood events and the Covid pandemic.
When the previous owner died the freehold had to be sold by his family and the property was put on the open market in 2021 and the long-term future of the shop was put at risk as there was only one serious ‘conditional’ offer made which resulted in the applicant being asked to surrender the lease.
This would have meant that a local facility which had been an important and integral part of the village for more than 175 years, would be lost forever.
The applicant realised that the only way to safeguard the long-term future of the shop was to approach financial backers and secure the purchase of the property. Negotiations took place resulting in the applicant buying the property as freehold in January 2022 for the sum of £440,000.
