Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Chips down for bookies
Betfred could be converted into new fish and chip shop
A FORMER cop shop could be transformed from a bookies into a chippy.
The old police station building on Fintry Road is currently a Betfred bookmaker.
But now the city council has received a planning application to convert it into a fish and chip shop.
Dundee architect Peter Inglis tabled the plans on behalf of Seafield Estates and confirmed that the business behind the move already has fish and chip shops around the city.
He said: “The operator thinks the shop will employ five or six people working on various shifts.
“I am not at liberty to say who the operator is, but it is based in and around Dundee with 31 employees.
“The fit-out of the unit is relatively easy as there’s nothing structurally inside to change, but obviously they will have to install new kitchen equipment.
“There is nothing difficult about the fit-out, although the shop won’t be open for Christmas.
“It has still to go through planning to obtain permission.
“And there is a council policy issue with the site being within 30 metres of a house.
“However, the proposal includes the installation of a very sophisticated extraction system so that nearby homes are not affected.
“Hopefully the council will see the lengths the applicant is going to for this.”
Mr Inglis added: “Historically, we tried for a chip shop three years ago and the operator still wants to put a chip shop on that site.
“But I don’t know anything about last year’s bid for a shop and I cannot give any details.
“I wasn’t the architect back then.”
A year ago, architect Mark Walker submitted an application on behalf of Seafield Estates for a non-food shop unit next to the Betfred outlet.
At that time the council insisted on the proposed new shop being painted blue in keeping with the colours of Betfred to maintain the general look of the area.