A world-famous shellfish business has been given the green light for a seafront bar built inside a shipping container.
The venue, as well as an al fresco dining space, will join a shack which Whitstable Oyster Company runs during the summer months on land near South Quay, selling its popular delicacy.
The concrete patch where Whitstable Oyster Company wants to put its new bar and seating. Picture: Tad Planning
And the firm says the new offerings will be open by the summer.
Documents lodged on the company’s behalf by Tad Planning state: “The proposed development aims to extend, improve and update the existing eatery facility, within the context of similar and complementary land uses in the wider harbour area.
“It is a minor extension and will reinforce the safe, inclusive and accessible place, promoting health and well-being and a high standard of amenity for existing and future users.”
The firm also wants to move the current unit, known as The Oyster Shed, and an adjacent prep area onto a raised concrete platform.
Two new containers – the bar and a storage room – will join them there, making the pop-ups more visible to passersby.
Whitstable Oyster Company runs a shack nearby serving its famous delicacy and is now expanding its offer with a new barPicture: Tad Planning
Both will operate temporarily through the warmer weather.
The outside area will have 24 tables, with a mixture of round and rectangular benches.
Documents continue: “The containers and outdoor seating area will not be visually intrusive.
“The proposal will be compatible against the backdrop of neighbouring uses and the mixed activities of the wider harbour area, including industrial buildings and uses.
“The design approach is considered appropriate in the industrial, tourism and town centre location and will be in keeping with the locality, improving the townscape along Harbour Street.”
The company submitted a bid for a bar in August last year. Picture: Blink Architecture
The bid was approved by Canterbury City Council on Monday.
On giving it the go-ahead, a planning officer said: “It is considered that the shipping containers within the South Quay would be acceptable, given its modest scale and the surrounding industrial context.
“The addition of a bar is considered to aid in the fulfilment of the development of the harbour and would add to the relatively broad and eclectic mix of uses already operating.”
A Whitstable Oyster Company spokesman said: “The successful planning application for the former Engine Room represents the continued investment by the Whitstable Oyster Company in the harbour and the confidence we have in Whitstable Harbour as a tourist destination and as an attraction for residents.
“The new, expanded site will also provide employment and generate income for the area. It is scheduled to open in the summer of 2025.
Whitstable’s oysters are world-renowned. Picture: Phil Lee
“Who couldn’t be looking forward to summer days with a pint of Oyster Stout and half a dozen Whitstable oysters overlooking the harbour?”
In 2021, plans were approved for an industrial-style two-storey restaurant in the same spot.
This permission still stands, but it is not known when work might begin.
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The site is a former engine shed once used by the historic Crab and Winkle Line railway but removed in 2009.
The area is now leased to the firm by the Whitstable Harbour Board.