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Lymington Centre submits revised application for New Street cafe extension




New plans for a larger cafe at Lymington’s community centre have been revealed in a bid to safeguard its future.

The New Street site has undergone an extensive revamp in recent years, with refurbishment work to various rooms, as well as new toilets and an enlarged first-floor lift.

Plans for a new cafe had been approved by New Forest District Council in 2022, but this new application wants to increase the floorspace to 89sqm – an additional 28%.

It will also allow those visiting the cinema to access the cafe directly.

The Lymington Centre has undegone a host of refurbishments
The Lymington Centre has undegone a host of refurbishments

Centre manager Rachel Smith told the A&T the trustees and volunteers are “very excited for this regeneration of a very tired existing building” and hoped many residents and visitors would enjoy the new building, which will have solar panels and glass doors overlooking the garden.

Documents submitted to NFDC state the extension will have a “radical effect” on the viability of the project, and the financial resilience of the Lymington Centre itself, in “challenging times”.

It adds: “The centre has a long and successful history of providing community facilities and arranging community activities for Lymington town and its surrounding area.

“Developed over a 70-year period, its facilities now require regeneration to continue to support its activities and attract a younger demographic to ensure the continued vitality of the centre’s activities.

Plans for a larger cafe at the Lymington Centre have been unveiled (picture: CHDP Architecture)
Plans for a larger cafe at the Lymington Centre have been unveiled (picture: CHDP Architecture)

“The cafe is at the heart of the centre’s facilities, and is not well served by the current building either in form, environmental performance or layout.”

The application states the reason for the revised application – which also includes changing the cafe’s layout – is a result of the Covid pandemic.

It adds: “To ensure that it has a robust business plan for a secure future, it will need to host a much wider rage of functions. This will only be possible if it is enlarged to accommodate more customers.”

An application for Listed Building Consent has also been submitted by the centre, which is housed in an amalgamation of buildings including the Grade II listed Old Malt House.

It states: “The listed building forming the original part of the Lymington community centre is of significance as part of Lymington’s commercial heritage, although the building itself was radically altered by the conversion in 1948.

Previously approved plans for the Lymington Centre cafe
Previously approved plans for the Lymington Centre cafe

“The existing 1948 sectional concrete building is of little architectural merit and does not form part of the listing.

“As such it does not make a positive contribution to the setting of the listed building. Its replacement by a modern, well insulated structure better placed to serve the Malt Hall, will itself ensure the continual economic wellbeing of the centre and protect the future of the listed building.”

As reported in the A&T, Lymington and Pennington Town Council previously agreed to match-fund a total of £900,000 raised by Lymington Community Association.

The authority had already granted £461,000 to the project and in March approved a final grant payment of £439,000, after the community association independently raised the final £550,000 it needs.



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