PLANNING permission has been granted for structural changes to the former Beachcomber restaurant in Teignmouth which will pave the way for it to become a landmark venue called The Captain’s Table, attracting customers from across the district and boosting the local economy.

It means work can get underway to improve access and make best use of the space in the building so as to provide a 100 seater restaurant, a bar area and a takeaway service fronting on to The Den.

The first stage of the building changes will see the public toilets – excluding the disabled WC – currently on the ground floor being closed from November 1 and being replaced by temporary public toilets on The Den.

These will operate until implementation of the Town Council’s plans to locate new public WCs at the nearby former aquarium.

Preparatory work on The Den for the temporary toilets will start early next month so that the new portacabin toilets will be in place and operating before those in the former Beachcomber building are closed.

Executive Member for Corporate Resources, Cllr Richard Keeling, welcomed the news that the planning application, submitted in July, had been successful.

‘This is an important step in establishing a landmark venue in Teignmouth that both local people and visitors will want to use.

‘It also enables building work to be carried out over the winter months so that the new Captain’s Table will hopefully be able to open next spring or summer.

‘Without closing the public WCs in the building, this would not be possible and so as to avoid unnecessary delays we are establishing modern temporary loos on The Den situated by the building.’

Planning permission for new public toilets at the site of the former aquarium has now been granted to the town council with a Spring 2024 opening pencilled in so as to avoid any construction disruption during the prime holiday periods.

The new would-be leaseholders of the building, who own Teignmouth’s Finn McCools restaurant and Woolacombe’s Captain’s Table, plan to open The Captain’s Table all year round, providing breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as teas, coffees, snacks and drinks throughout the day and evening, catering also for special occasions.

The granting of planning permission means that Teignbridge District Council – which owns the building – can finalise the 20 year lease for the Captain’s Table with business owner David Royle who successfully bid for it in a competitive tender earlier this year.