A PROPOSAL to open a restaurant specialising in burgers in Reading town centre has moved a step closer.
Fat Hippo wants to open a branch in the Jackson’s Corner development, currently being constructed on the site of the former Jackson’s department store.
It has sought permission from Reading Borough Council to install awning and black branding rather than the established gold and green branding used by Jackson’s, which closed in 2013.
A previous application for Fat Hippo to occupy the unit was refused by Reading Council’s planning department in February last year, as it was judged that the plan failed to integrate with the rest of Jackson’s Corner, and that a noise assessment was not conducted.
The latest proposal hopes to address that. It includes a noise assessment showing the proposed extraction fans would not exceed 10 decibels above background noise.
The company also adjusted the proposed black awning to bring it in line with the historic design of the shopfront, and includes kitchen extraction units required to get rid of cooking fumes.
Its plans have been recommended for approval by council planning officers, who concluded that the plan is acceptable if noise and cooking odours are suitably controlled, and the changes addressed the previous concern that the awning failed to integrate with the rest of Jackson’s Corner.
The project for Fat Hippo to occupy Jackson’s Corner is set to be decided by the council’s planning applications committee tonight (Wednesday, January 10.)
Fat Hippo is not the only restaurant that could open in the former department store either.
Rosa’s Thai Cafe, a collection of oriental restaurants, has approved plans to install a kitchen extraction and air filtration system at Unit 1 of Jackson’s Corner back in May 2022.
Previously, the Byrons Burgers chain also expressed interest in occupying a unit. However, little has been heard about the Byron Burgers interest since 2017.
The Fat Hippo application can be seen by searching for reference 230574 into the council’s planning portal.
