A NEW café serving up brunch and smoothies is set to open in Fossgate.

Plans have been submitted to turn the former Rise and Shine Living store at 44 Fossgate into a café called Rise – which already has a branch in Preston.

The owners say their new café would open from 7am to 8pm, seven days a week.

The menu features brunch dishes, sandwiches, smoothie bowls and coffee.

The planning application says: “This particular unit has been empty due to the failure of multiple retail offerings.

“Therefore we believe that this would be a useful and beneficial change of use for this unit and the regeneration of the wider area. With the business operating a daytime offering, there is no impact on evening noise.”

It adds: “The Fossgate area appears to be a healthy mixture of retail, cafés, restaurants and bars at street level.

“There is also a good residential and hotel culture, providing demand for breakfast, brunch, healthy food, coffee, and smoothies.

“Rise [in] Preston has had a positive impact on Miller Arcade and the local Preston area. People travel to visit the Preston Rise and it has created footfall to the shops surrounding the site.”

The owners say the café will serve all-day breakfasts and work to convert the former shop will include the addition of a small kitchen, new signs and a new shopfront.

Rise and Shine Living opened in York in October 2018 and sold a selection of homeware, gifts and beauty products.

But the family-run business announced it was closing its doors two years later to go online.

The owners said they had had an “incredibly tough” year due to Covid and its impact on retail.