Popular biker cafe Squires, near Selby, is set to expand

Squires, on the B1222 in South Milford, near Selby, is a favourite spot for bikers who consider it a base from which to ride the region’s roads, and this week owners have submitted plans to create rooms on the site.

If given the go-ahead, the plans will see the cafe’s cellar and beer store converted into a two-bed visitor room, the upstairs function room converted into 10 rooms, and current staff accommodation converted into three new visitor rooms.

The new plans follow on from outline permission granted in February. A planning statement said: “Essentially the proposal seeks the development of further tourist facilities ancillary to Squires Café Bar which is a well established tourist destination. The site already incorporates camping and caravanning facilities and this proposal seeks to improve the offer in terms of choice of accommodation.”

The initial plans sought to extend the first floor above the function room to create 10 bedrooms, and create four new rooms in the current staff accommodation, indicating some amendments have been made to reduce the scale slightly in the meantime.

Thousands of bikers visit the cafe each year, not just from around North Yorkshire, but from around Europe and further afield, according to the planning application, and the site is responsible for 21 local jobs, with three or four new roles created if plans are given the green light.

The report said: “This proposal now seeks to provide further overnight accommodation for which in recent times there has been an increasing demand. It will be noted that not all of the biking fraternity want to camp in tents (particularly if they have travelled from far afield and abroad).

“This proposal, therefore, seeks to satisfy an existing demand at the site through the formation of visitor accommodation by the construction of further bedrooms (above the existing function room) and conversion of existing buildings.”

A decision is due on the plans in September.