CARD giant Clintons has unveiled new plans for the building occupied by doomed York nightspot, The Willow.
The company has been given planning permission to open a shop on the ground floor of 37 Coney Street, below the restaurant and disco. It has been given the go-ahead to remove the long-standing Willow signage and block up the door to the first floor, for decades the entrance to the restaurant and disco.
An application to City of York Council by AG Retail Cards Ltd, trading as Clintons, does not make clear whether the retailer intends to have any public use for the first floor, if its move goes ahead.
>>> Tommy Fong: Why The Willow is closing after 79 years
Amongst its proposals is one for the removal of the existing door set back from the ground floor entrance to the first floor, and the installation of a new security roller shutter.
The Press has approached Clintons for information on its plans for the building, but a spokesman has not yet responded to our inquiries.
Clintons is currently further along Coney Street, at number 25.
We revealed on Monday that Tommy Fong, the owner of The Willow, where late night discos have been staged since 1973, had decided to retire after being given four weeks to vacate the premises by the building's owner Aviva.
The Willow had first opened as a cafe in 1936. Mr Fong said his lease for the premises had expired in 2012, since when he had operated under a 'tenancy at will' lease, allowing the landlord to terminate it at any time, and now, with his 70th birthday approaching, he had decided it was time to call it a day.
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