Sidmouth’s Rockfish restaurant could be open next spring after winning planning permission from East Devon District Council.

The planning committee unanimously approved the application to convert and extend the Drill Hall at Port Royal into a seafood restaurant at their meeting today (Tuesday, June 18). This includes demolishing the public toilets and shelter next to the site, and building two unisex toilet cubicles for public use.

Representing Sidmouth at the meeting were Cllr Ian Barlow, a member of EDDC’s planning committee as well as a Sidmouth town councillor; Cllr Kelvin Dent (chair of planning, Sidmouth Town Council) and Cllr Sophie Richards (Sidmouth Town Council). They were unhappy about the loss of the Port Royal toilet block, which is being closed by East Devon District Council, and the shelter. They didn’t like the design of the restaurant, describing it as ‘a missed opportunity’ for a building in that prime seafront location. But they supported the plans, despite their misgivings, because they wanted to see the dilapidated Drill Hall revamped, and felt that the Rockfish restaurant  will be an asset to the Port Royal area and Sidmouth as a whole.

(Image: Rockfish Seafood Restaurants)

Mitch Tonks, the celebrity chef who owns the Rockfish chain, spoke at the meeting. He said his plan is to create a ‘really world class restaurant’ at the Drill Hall site, which he loves, and that it had ‘taken some time to get to where we are’.

He said: “I think the toilet block outside the Drill Hall, if it was closed, would really be an eyesore for the restaurant, it really wouldn’t work for us, so I think developing it and giving people uninterrupted views along the Jurassic coast is something really magnificent.

“Each of our restaurants creates 50 jobs, it’s a great opportunity for the towns we’re in - we’re in nine other towns and we’ve been, I think, part of really kickstarting regeneration in some of the towns we’re in. Rockfish restaurants are seen as destinations, people travel from far and wide to enjoy them and celebrate the seafood of the south west, and we’ve had feedback from other businesses, that they’ve really benefitted when a Rockfish restaurant has opened.

“The toilets are earmarked for closure, we’ve taken on board that we’re going to replace them and operate them at our cost, and if our application is approved today we’ll hopefully open next spring and put an end to this long-running debate about when we are going to open.”