THE future of a former Italian restaurant has been officially decided after Cheshire West and Chester Council approved plans for the site.

The Horns Inn in Little Leigh, which was more recently operated as Bella Napoli Ristorante and the Marco Marco Pizzeria Ristorante, has been empty since the business ceased operating in 2014.

At the end of 2021, Paul Alvarez, owner of Unleashed Motorhome Hire, and Helene Johnson, who owns Piggles Pad dog groomers, submitted plans to transform the building into two homes, while the grounds would house the two businesses.

Now, Chester West Council has approved change of use from a former public house/restaurant into two dwellings, a two storey side extensions, external alterations and access.

But Paul and Helene have had to remove their businesses (a campervan hire and dog groomers) from the plans in order to get the go-ahead.

Paul said the journey to this point had been ‘difficult’, with objections raised to their original proposed scheme.

“Helene and I are delighted that after 11 months of negotiations with the council, we have finally been granted planning permission for the first phase of our project,” said Paul.

“We have ultimately had to remove the running of our businesses from the scheme in order to get this through the system but remain hopeful that approval for these will be granted via a separate application.

“We have benefitted from a huge amount of public support for our project which is very humbling; we regularly get chatting to people passing by who are thrilled with how the building is looking and in particular the energy and support of the local community has been fantastic as has the support from our local councillor Lynn Gibbon.”

Thehe last 12 months have been spent restoring the fabric of the building, and Paul and Helene have managed to reclaim a lot of the original materials.

Paul added: “The exterior has now been sandblasted and the original Cheshire brickwork is restored and looking fantastic.

“Now we have the planning approval, this enables us to get all the new windows and doors on order and finally get the building fully watertight.

“There is still a long way to go but we are starting to see little glimpses of what the end result will be which is hugely gratifying.”