Permission for old Thompson’s sweet shop in Hunstanton to be converted into flat

A sweet shop which closed due to financial difficulty after the Covid pandemic has received permission to be converted into a flat.

Thompson’s sweet shop in Hunstanton has already been turned into a residential property, but has now received retrospective planning permission from West Norfolk Council.

The business previously took up the ground floor space, and this now houses a one-bedroom flat.

The shop front and signs have already been removed and replaced with timber above and below the front window, as well as a door where a fanlight would have once been.

A report from planning officers said: “Whilst the shopfront paraphernalia was undesirable in terms of its fluorescent colour and unsympathetic appearance and thus its removal is welcomed, amended plans have been negotiated in order to try and bring the building back to its original appearance historically, in the interests of enhancing the character of the Conservation Area.”

Despite some worries that anyone living in the flat would not be protected from noise generated in Hunstanton’s town centre, officers said that a “buyer beware” protocol means this did not warrant the application being refused.

The plans were approved last week subject to a number of conditions.