Objections to conversion of Mundesley restaurant The View raised

More than 30 people have penned letters urging North Norfolk District Council not to grant permission for the ground floor of the Mundesley building - which housed Jonet Restaurant for 44 years - to become accommodation. 

But David Will, property consultant for the applicants, Charlotte and Neal Gurney, said in his own letter the restaurant had ceased trading because it had become “uneconomic in the current difficult trading conditions”. 

It also said that the building’s first floor had already been converted into two flats.

The letter added: “17 Beach Road is a modern building of no historic interest, and the change of use will have little effect on the street scene.”

Former Jonet Restaurant co-owner Kevin Barber and employee Aimee Rogers, when the popular eatery closed in 2020 (Image: Neil Didsbury)

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Objections centre around the popular beach resort losing one of its only places to eat out, and the fact that the building is in a conservation area.

One objector wrote: “The Mundesley seafront is gradually being allowed to change and not always for the good. 

“This is one more nail in its coffin.”

Another wrote: “We have more than enough holiday accommodation in the village (as these apartments assuredly will become).

“Mundesley is not just a holiday village. It is a thriving all-year-round community.”

Another objector said: “I have lived in Mundesley all my life and can remember this site as a dairy before this building was built in the 1970s.

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“This is an attractive seafront and where you would expect to find facilities such as cafes and restaurants and this area only has one other small café. 

“I am convinced a well-run restaurant would continue to be a successful business.” 

A decision is expected on the change-of-use application by June 13.

Seaside spot: History of the building

Until the 1970s, there was an old dairy and shop at the site where the former restaurant now stands. 

The land was bought by two men, Mr Barber and Mr Rush, who demolished what was there and built the existing building.

This was then opened as a restaurant by Mr Barber’s son and daughter-in-law, Kevin and Judith.

Jonet was named after a cargo ship which ran aground on the beach at Mundesley in 1969.

The ship had been travelling through fog, and mistook Happisburgh Lighthouse for Cromer’s lighthouse.

The Barbers ran the restaurant for more than 40 years and it closed when they retired in October 2020. But it reopened under new owners after a refurbishment as The View the following summer. 

The View closed in August last year, and in November it was listed for auction with a reserve price of £450,000. 

The property was bought prior to auction for an undisclosed sum, and the Gurneys have declared in their change-of-use application that the sale was completed on January 17.