The owners of a popular Oakham cafe, which was forced to close last year, could well be reborn at the castle.

Rutland County Council is seeking a change of use for part of the castle to allow a room and a kitchen, plus outdoor space, be used for the cafe.

The planning application said: "Castle Cottage Cafe (Steve Oakenfull) has expressed interest to lease the spaces to operate the café from; the expression has arisen as the Cottage Cafe building is changing to residential use."

As Nub News reported, there was much sadness in Rutland at the closure of the cafe in Church Passage, when it was announced early in September.

The application said the cafe would have a similar capacity to the previous business, and it would benefit from nearby parking at the castle, which the previous business did not have.

"Utilization of the court yard as a sunspot and viewing area towards the grounds is a selling point to the use of the room as a café, particularly with the regular dog walkers.

"The increased personnel presence and more public use in the yard and the grounds will further discourage the inappropriate use of the castle

grounds."

The opening hours have yet to be finalised but would be similar to the previous building, with the council looking to increase them to match the castle opening hours to maximise tourism visitation.

"No negative impacts to the local area are expected through these arrangements," it said.

The application continued: "The spaces are currently underutilized, used occasionally for events and other visitor activities, which can be accommodated within the main space of the Great Hall.

"The impact of the pandemic has further increased the need to review financial operations at the Castle. The benefits for Oakham Castle include a

regular lease income, improved visitor offer, extension of the visit length, attracting greater visitor volumes and new audiences to the site, increasing personnel presence on site (both in the Great Hall and the grounds), creating efficiencies in the shop operations, providing the option of on-site hospitality for weddings, group visits, hires and new streams of hospitality such as parties and evening events, without needing additional outlay.

"Currently, the main space is used through three bespoke-made tables with interactive elements for children and events, funded by the Heritage Lottery as part of the Restoration project. These can be utilized by the two large windows near the court seating in the Great Hall. This will ensure their continued use in a safe, inspiring, historic and integrated space within the Great Hall. The horseshoe interactive and associated wall screen can remain in the room as engagement for the café and shop users. Similarly new archaeology finds can be displayed in the large wooden display cabinet in the room.

"The current set up of the court room has been problematic; it had to be changed over for every hire and event. Defining its use will enable it to readily cater for hires and events, whilst moving visitor activity to the more historic setting of the Great Hall. The expression of interest creates a timely opportunity to strategically define the use and function of the Great Hall spaces.

"The spaces and operations are within the castle grounds, away from any residential property and normally operating during the day only. No noise impacts are anticipated outside the building. Internally, during any particularly busy periods, internal doors can reduce noise to other spaces.

The kitchen is well ventilated with two large windows and doors. Food will be mainly cakes, toasts/ paninis and salads. There will be no deep fat frying or open fore cooking."

The application further explained: "The cafe is similar to ones at other heritage sites, like the National Trust, offering a light food offer and refreshments, the menu can be viewed on https://www.castlecottagecafe.com/our-menu. As such, there is no need for open fires, no additional ventilation. No building works or changes to the fabric of the building are anticipated, apart from the plumbing for the dishwasher installation. Property and Insurance have been consulted and permission."

The application added: "This is effectively a relocation of a nearby business, so it will have no negative impact on the area. We were advised to consider whether a mixed-use would be appropriate. Consequently, a mixed-use is proposed, to enable the council to occasionally use the spaces for other council events and visitor operations as required, outside cafe operating hours. The cafe lease will be on a one-year initial period."