Olive & Rye: Popular Leeds cafe eyes expansion in Queens Arcade
Leeds city centre café Olive & Rye is hoping to expand to a vacant unit in Queens Arcade.
In its planning application, the independent cafe aims to take over a vacant retail unit for extra seating and to attract more visitors to the arcade.
Olive & Rye, which currently occupies units 18-20, proposes to knock down the wall separating the cafe from unit 22. The plans include replacing unit 22’s original door with a new glass panel and extending the shopfront to unify the frontage.
Unit 22 previously housed Designer Exchange, a luxury fashion store selling pre-loved designer clothing. In a design statement, the applicant stated that “very little” of the interior of the unit would need to be changed, except for the addition of a new WC in the basement and a wider staircase to allow for better access.
The statement reads: “The new tenant has a very successful café business next door, Olive and Rye, which occupies numbers 18-20 Queens Arcade.
“She would like to extend this business into number 22. This will allow for more seating on the ground floor and for better kitchen facilities in the basement.
“This will allow the business to grow and will bring more people into Queens Arcade, which has many units which are unoccupied.
Speaking of the cafe’s design, the statement adds: “The frontage colour of dark grey which matches number 18-20 will remain. We fully believe that the design will help to preserve the heritage of the building and will have minimal impact.”
Leeds City Council is expected to make a decision on the proposal by Tuesday, September 30. Comments on the plans can be submitted until Friday, September 19, via the Public Access portal.