Planning permission is being sought to convert a vacant unit at Westside Shopping Centre into a new café.
The planning application by Westside Shopping Centre Ltd is for a change of the permitted use of Unit 5 out front from retail to café/restaurant.
The application states that the unit in question, which was most recently a laundry and dry cleaners, has experience “prolonged periods of vacancy” in recent years.
It also claims that there is “limited market demand for retail units at this location” and that having a café would bring “much needed life and animation” to the Seamus Quirke Road.
The intended occupant of the unit is Insomnia café and coffee shop chain, which first opened in Galway back in 1997.
A decision on this planning application is due from Galway City Council by October 26 of this year.
This is far from the only big change coming to Westside Shopping Centre, as last year the council approved plans for a major facelift of its façade.
The plans are for refurbishments to the southern and western facades of the building, where it’s public entrance is located.
These will consist primarily of new cladding and signage, as well as landscaping works in the existing car park.
Last year An Bord Pleanála also gave the go ahead for plans to build a 250 bed student accommodation development on the grounds of the shopping centre.
