New entertainment venue similar to Stack Newcastle could open just down the road from the original
A new entertainment venue similar to Stack could open in Newcastle city centre next summer just down the road from the original.
The plans, which came before city councillors on Monday morning, would see the Worswick Chambers building in Pilgrim Street undergo a multi-million pound renovation into a major new leisure site.
Stack, the popular Newcastle street food and entertainment venue, closed its doors for good in May after four years in the city.
If Newcastle City Council agrees to grant a premises licence for the proposed venue, the listed building could open in summer 2023.
Designs for the site show that it would be split across three floors - with eight bars, seven food stands, two function rooms, a coffee shop, and other retail units surrounding a central courtyard with a stage and big screen.
Members of the council's licensing sub-committee were told the proposals did not constitute a direct relocation of Stack, but that there are many similarities between the two.
Barrister Charles Holland said that Stack, which closed for the final time in May to make way for construction of a new HMRC office headquarters, was a "successful and much-admired venue" that "managed to pull off the feat of being large but intimate, and was trouble-free".
He said the new site hoped to replicate and improve on many of its key features - including a "relaxed atmosphere", no charge for entry, a wide mix of food vendors, and free entertainment.
But, ahead of the hearing, city centre councillor Jane Byrne complained that bosses "completely failed" to keep noise under control at Stack and caused "huge problems" for residents of nearby Bewick Court.
She added: "Given their track record I do not think the applicant can be trusted to adhere to conditions."
Concerns were also raised by city community safety chiefs about a lack of street lighting and taxi infrastructure and the resulting danger for women in what is currently a relatively quiet part of the city centre.
If the licence is approved by the council, a decision due to be made public within five working days, then the local authority's environmental health department is set to have a "veto" over the scheme as it must separately approve a noise management plan for it - details of which are being put on hold for now given the rapidly-changing scale of development around Pilgrim Street.
Planning permission for the development, which includes a part-demolition and refurbishment of Worswick Chambers as well as two new office buildings and a car park, was granted last October.
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