Pub giant JD Wetherspoon has lodged further plans to convert a former store into a hostelry and restaurant in Blairgowrie.
The site, in Allan Street, was formerly used by Poundsworth but Perth and Kinross Council granted planning permission in October last year for a change of use application to become a pub and restaurant called The Muckle Mill.
Further plans have been lodged this week with the local authority to build a new timber shopfront, sliding doors with a protection rail and new windows.
The company has arranged a public meeting to give details about the £1.7m plans, with this due to take place a week on Monday.
Many Blairgowrie residents will remember the site as the former Woolworths building, which was built in the 1960s.
It is believed the move could create between 40 to 50 full and part-time jobs.
In October last year, councillors on the local authority’s development control committee agreed to pass plans for internal and external alterations and a new shop front.
Nick Brian, Perth and Kinross Council’s development quality manager, recommended approval, stating that he favoured the development.
”All public house activity will be restricted to the ground floor with staff offices, customer toilets and cooled store on the first floor (to the rear of the building),” he said. ”The existing third floor will remain undeveloped.”
Some Blairgowrie residents had written to the council in relation to the development, and, as a result, JD Wetherspoon has arranged a public meeting to take place on Monday March 19, where the company will discuss its proposal.
Eddie Gershon, a spokesman for JD Wetherspoon, said: ”Wetherspoon believes it is important that people living in Blairgowrie town centre should be kept up to date with all developments.
”The public meeting will be our way of engaging directly with residents and also letting them know of our plans and also giving them the opportunity to ask any questions they might have about the proposed pub scheme.”
The plans include mounting half of a waterwheel on the outside of the building, as part of the signage.
Councillor Bob Ellis, who represents Blairgowrie and the Glens, said he feels the move will be a positive one for the east Perthshire town.
”We now have the chance to see a well-run establishment come to Blairgowrie and invest £1.7m in the transformation of this building,” he said.
In October, the council’s development control committee agreed a number of conditions to accompany the application. These included minimising noise emissions and light pollution, plus restrictions on the use of the first and second floors of the premises.
The public meeting will be held at Blairgowrie Town Hall, beginning at 7pm.