Green light for new restaurant overlooking Dundee cemetery

Howff InteriorPlans have been approved to create a restaurant and whisky bar overlooking Dundee’s historic Howff cemetery.

West One Properties submitted fresh designs for a new 60-seat restaurant next to the site after earlier proposals for the same location were described as “social vandalism” by a conservation group.

The initial plans to turn the property at 5 Bank Street into a 70-seat restaurant were unanimously rejected by councillors in April.

Features of the original proposals included a glass extension at the rear which would overhang the cemetery.



Instead of an extension over the graveyard, the new plans are to create a “large picture window” overlooking the headstones instead.

A whisky bar will also be constructed in the basement of the building.

Dundee City Council has included a number of conditions in its acceptance of the application, with full details and design of the venue having to be submitted to the local authority before work starts.

Electrical and mechanical noise, as well as music, will also be limited to certain levels.



A design statement submitted to the council on behalf of West One by Brunton Design chartered architects said the giant window would allow diners to “be part” of the Howff.

It added: “Although the Bank Street façade is ordered and a good example of period city centre architecture, there is no visual link at the moment through the ground-floor space into the oldest and arguably the most accessible medieval graveyard in Scotland.

“A major steelwork exercise will be undertaken to create a large ‘picture window’ in the rear wall on to the Howff.”

The statement said the light provided by the restaurant would change the way the Howff was seen at night, casting a “silhouette” across the stones.


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