A TEESSIDE businessman has been granted planning permission to turn a Whitby youth club into a new bar for the seaside town.

Paolo Arceri applied to Scarborough Council to transform the former Youth Shack building in New Quay Road into a venue for residents and visitors.

The youth club, which was home to the Youth Shack, has been vacant since January 2019 and is located above a public toilet.

Scarborough Council, which owns the building, had put the site out to tender with a proposed ten-year lease.

Mr Arceri, who runs Macy Brown’s cocktail bars in Middlesbrough and Guisborough, lodged a planning application to bring the building back into use and on Thursday last week, Scarborough Council’s planning committee unanimously granted a change of use for the premises.

In his application,  Mr Arceri proposes to run the bar from 10am until 1am from Monday to Sunday.

The new business will employ up to five full-time and three part-time employees.

Speaking during the meeting  Cllr Phil Trumper said: “The actual building is not very attractive at the moment and I think this will improve the look of the building.

“There are a lot of bars down there and it is quite lively on a weekend but the police are always in that area as they know where most people are going be so the police position themselves where they need to be in case there is any trouble. I can’t see any issue with a change of use from the youth club into this bar.”

The bar, which will be located in the heart of Whitby’s Conservation Area, still needs to secure a premises licence from Scarborough Council to allow it to serve alcohol.