PLANS have been put forward for a new takeaway serving sushi in a vacant Winchester city centre shop.

Jun Wang, of Eats Trading Ltd, has applied to convert 151A High Street, into a takeaway serving the traditional Japanese cuisine. The unit was previously a gift shop called Reflex and more recently a cobblers which closed soon after the lockdown last year

The Chronicle understands that an agreement has been reached with an annual rent of £22,000.

The proposal seeks to change the use of the shop from A1 retail unit to A5 ‘cold’ food takeaway.

The application to Winchester City Council states: “‘Eats Sushi’ would utilise the currently available unit to provide a popular and high-quality takeaway service with limited impact on the building and conservation area as well as nearby users.

“All food ingredients are sashimi grade seafood with fresh vegetables and all others pre-cooked with no food cooking from scratch undertaken. Most food provided is cool food with heating undertaken only by microwave and domestic style rice cooker or steamer.

“We would suggest that Winchester High Street is an appropriate location for the proposed use with a number of hot and cold food takeaway outlets in the nearby area with the use providing further vitality and viability of what is a very small commercial space.”

The application added: “…it is hoped that the local authority will be able to support this proposal to enhance the area, bring a unit vacant for 12 months back into commercial use and create further vitality in the town centre at the Covid-19 pandemic ends.”

It is not known how many jobs will be created if the plan goes ahead.

To view the application, search 21/01323/FUL on the council’s planning portal.