PLANS to bring a takeaway food counter to Middlewich Booze Centre have been refused by Cheshire East Council.

The plans, submitted in the spring, sought to install a kitchen and counter within the shop at 37 Wheelock Street, selling takeaway food alongside the store’s usual offerings.

But CEC planning officer Simon Greenland rejected the idea, saying it would lead to a ‘concentration’ of non-retail units in Wheelock Street – the town’s ‘primary shopping street’.

The application had received two letters of support, but objectors raised concerns about litter and anti-social behaviour.

One letter of objection said: “Wheelock Street is our primary shopping area in Middlewich and it would be regrettable to lose yet another shop.

“Also, we already have a lot of takeaways. In fact, there is a pizza takeaway on one side of this property and a cafe/coffee shop at the other side – three in a row if this one was given the go-ahead.”

The applicant, Cebrail Kose, said the plans had surfaced in a bid to offer something different in a difficult time for high street retailers.

Mr Kose, who also runs Fantastic Pizza and Kebab, opened Middlewich Booze Centre on the site of the old Bargain Booze after it closed down.

He said: “It was a bad news for local shoppers and for us because it was not looking good as a closed down shop in the middle of the town.

“So I decided to open this place as Booze Centre and gave opportunity to local people to work there.

“It has been running OK until [the] last two years. Now is bit difficult to run this business due to big supermarkets doing cheap deals with booze, and now these days people choose the big supermarket rather than local shops for their drinks.

“So I decided to do 50 per cent of the shop as fish and chips and noodle bar, which is something new rather than another closed down shop.”