Shop set to turn into café bar on York’s Coney Street as brand reveals plans
The changing face of Coney Street in York continues as a former shop gets set to become a café.
The move from it being York’s leading shopping street to a mix of hospitality and retail continues with the development
YorkMixreported last month that the Federal Café company had applied for an alcohol licence for the old Lush shop on Coney Street.
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Now the planning application has gone in to change the Grade II listed building inside and out.
Founded in Manchester in 2014, Federal Café was inspired by founder Claudio Alves Ribeiro’s time spent experiencing Australia’s coffee culture.
How it will look. Image: planning documents
The brand serves coffee and brunch, and now operates three sites in Manchester and one on Boar Lane in Leeds.
The proposed alterations to 5 Coney Street include redecorating the shopfront, installing a new signs, fitting an external canopy, and adding new rear access doors.
Inside, plans feature a full interior fit-out with a kitchen, a glass brick wall on the first floor, and a toilet.
The proposal also outlines plans to paint the external walls of the rear courtyard to create an outdoor seating terrace complete with benches and planters.
Supporting documents prepared by Gallagher Planning state: “There will be no loss of original fabric and all proposed works will be fully reversible.
“They would also bring the building into active use and, therefore, the ongoing occupation of and care for the listed building.”
The move comes alongside wider regeneration plans for the street by developers Helmsley Group.
Their approved scheme involves creating a new ‘snickleway’ through 5 Coney Street to open up access to the rear courtyard and the riverfront, as part of the broader vision to reconnect Coney Street with the River Ouse.
It also reflects the changing nature of Coney Street, which was once almost-exclusively shops. In recent years, what was Burgins perfumery for 137 years on the corner of St Helen’s Square became a bubble tea shop.
