Restaurant bosses are hoping to breathe new life into a Perth city centre street in the new year.
The family behind the Shish Asian grill enterprise are seeking a licence for the County Place venue.
It will be inside the former John Ferguson workwear store, across the road from the burnt-out New County Hotel.
The large Ferguson shop unit – once a County Place landmark – has been empty since the Perth business moved to new premises four years ago.
And the New County Hotel remains boarded up after a huge blaze, which resulted in three deaths in 2023.
Businessman Imran Mohammed previously told The Courier he and his brother Hassan are intending to open a tandoori restaurant and takeaway in the old Ferguson shop.
Speaking on Friday, he said the conversion was making good progress.
“We’re working on the inside,” he said.
“Everything’s looking good. It’s looking like we’ll be ready to open next year.”
County Place restaurant will be ‘like nothing else’ in Perth
A premises licence is the next piece of the jigsaw.
Perth and Kinross Licensing board will consider the application for 21-27 County Place when it meets on Wednesday.
Mr Mohammed previously told The Courier the plan is to serve authentic Asian tandoori food from a hot grill pan.
“It would be like a charcoal grill,” he said.
“You get this type of thing in Glasgow and Edinburgh but there’s nothing like this in Perth at the moment.”
County Place landmarks in need of attention
County Place continues on from Glasgow Road at the gateway to the city centre, making it one of Perth’s most prominent streets.
The Ferguson workwear and hardware shop on County Place was an institution for generations.
The business was founded in 1924, and had shops on either side of the street.
But John Ferguson, grandson of the company’s founder, announced he was closing both units and moving to new premises in South Methven Street in 2020.
The New County Hotel is also a sorry shadow of its former self following the fatal fire on January 2 2023.
The blaze claimed the lives of sisters Donna Janse Van Rensburg, 44, and Sharon McLean, 47, from Aberdeen, and Edinburgh man Keith Russell, 38.
The company which ran the hotel went into liquidation in August 2023.
Conversation