Lymington Community Centre unveils plan to build new cafe

Lymington Community Association occupies the 18th century Malt Hall in New Street and a set of neighbouring buildings dating from the 1950s and 1960s.

It wants to replace the 76-year-old cafe with a modern, well-insulated facility that will help the centre survive "challenging times".

A previous proposal for a new cafe was approved by New Forest District Council two years ago but the authority has now received a revised scheme.

A previous proposal to build a new cafe at Lymington Community Centre was approved in 2022 (Image: CHDP Architecture)

A design and access statement that accompanies the latest application says the plan is an important part of the centre's regeneration, which began in 2013 and aims to ensure its continued viability.

It adds: "The cafe is not well served by the current building in form, environmental performance, or layout.

"For this reason a new café was designed and approved in December 2022. It is now proposed to change the design to increase the floor area whilst mitigating any impact on the street scene or the listed building."

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The statement says the new layout reflects the need to make sure the cafe remains a viable hub.

"To ensure it has a robust business plan for a secure future, it will need to host a much wider rage of functions. This will only be possible if it is enlarged so as to accommodate more users/customers."

If the scheme is given the go-ahead the new cafe will be 28 per cent larger than the existing facility.

"It will have a radical effect on the viability of the project and on the financial resilience of the centre itself in these challenging times."

The latest application to replace the cafe at Lymington Community Association includes a new layout (Image: CHDP Architecture)

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Formerly known as The Old Malt House, the Malt Hall adjoins the existing cafe. But a heritage statement that also accompanies the application says: "The 1948 concrete building is of little architectural merit and does not form part of the listing.

"As such it does not make a positive contribution to the setting of the listed building.

"Its replacement by a modern, well insulated structure better placed to serve the Malt Hall, will itself ensure the continual economic wellbeing of the centre and protect the future of the listed building."

Lymington Community Association was formed in May 1946.

The centre, which opened in November 1948, occupies part of a three-quarter acre site that was bought for £1,500 with the help of a £1,000 grant from what was then the Ministry of Education.