Loungers UK looks to open food-led café bar at former Barclays in Newmarket

A café-restaurant chain is looking to open a branch at a former bank in Newmarket.

Loungers UK Ltd has submitted a premises licence application for a food-led café bar at the former Barclays, in 58-60 High Street.

Barclays closed the bank in June because less than 10 customers used the branch regularly as the only way to do their banking.

As of December 2023, Loungers operated 247 sites in England and Wales across three brands, Lounge, Cosy Club and Brightside.

It has two Lounges in Suffolk already - Edmundo in Cornhill, Bury St Edmunds, and Prado, in Market Hill, Sudbury.

There is also a Cosy Club, at Buttermarket Shopping Centre, in Ipswich.

In March, the company gained planning permission from Ipswich Borough Council to convert the former Burtons warehouse in St Peter’s Wharf, Ipswich, into a Lounge, which could open in October.

The licence application said the Newmarket site would be open from 8am to 12.30am, Monday to Sunday.