Restaurant signs lease for toilet block site

Rockfish said its new restaurant in Sidmouth was expected to create 30 to 40 jobs

A seafood restaurant group has signed a lease with a Devon council to open a new eatery on the site of a public toilet.

East Devon District Council said it had entered into a lease with Rockfish for the former Drill Hall and adjacent public toilets on the Sidmouth seafront.

It said work to refurbish the site and finalise the new restaurant and outdoor seating area would start in the autumn and was expected to be completed in late summer next year.

Paul Hayward, the council's deputy leader, said the new restaurant would help "revitalise the east end of Sidmouth's historic seafront esplanade" and provide a focus for the "neglected area of the town".

New jobs promised

Planning permission for the site, which has been empty for several years, was granted in June.

The council said the toilets would remain open until building work starts, before they are demolished and replaced by temporary toilets and eventually a new toilet block managed by Rockfish.

It said the new toilet block, which is due to open in December, would be "external to the restaurant and accessible directly from the pavement, reducing the risk of anti-social behaviour".

Mitch Tonks, chief executive of Rockfish, said he expected the new restaurant would create between 30 and 40 jobs.

He said the chain was investing £2m in the site and would "sell" the long leasehold interest when construction finishes.

"At the same time Rockfish will be granted a long lease at current market rent," he said.

"This sale and leaseback type of transaction is in the normal course of business for a company like ours whereby we recoup some of our investment in return for paying rent."