A POPULAR Okehampton café looks set to be restored to its former glory as West Devon planners agreed a proposal for the site?s change of use. Planning officers had recommended the proposal for change of use from a shop to a café be refused ? but councillors overturned that decision at their meeting on Tuesday. Applicant Roy Smith submitted a petition to the committee containing 4,012 signatures in support of the application to convert the shop at the entrance to Okehampton Arcade, formerly known as Piggy?s Diner, back to its former use. He said his aim was to get together as many signatures as possible to show there was community support for a café and he found that many local people responded by sharing fond memories of it. ?I?m very happy that it?s gone through and I?d like to thank everyone for their support, particularly Cllr Ken Williams. ?I?m hoping to be up and running by Easter but I haven?t decided on a new name yet. ?It will be a basic café as it was before, reasonably priced with a happy atmosphere, hopefully somewhere where young people can meet.? Mr Smith will draw on his many years of experience in the catering industry when the new business is up and running ? he worked in his father?s café in Winkleigh as a teenager and ran his own café in the 1970s. In their report, planning officers said the proposed change of use from a shop to a café would be contrary to local plan policy in that change of use of ground floor shops to alternative uses was not permitted within the core shopping frontages. However, councillors felt this recommendation was unreasonable given the site?s history as a café. It is believed that the premises were used as a café since around 1957 and the change of use to a shop was undertaken in May 2004. Five years ago the café at the premises was used in the filming of rural drama Down To Earth.
