Estate agent opens restaurant
Devizes estate agent Philip O'Shea is closing his office and plans to turn it into a restaurant.
Mr O'Shea, 43, said his sales business had not recovered from the economic downturn two years ago.
He is in the process of transferring properties he has for sale to Strakers estate agents but will retain a lettings business and this will be run upstairs above his office in St John's Street. The one employee he has will run this.
Mr O'Shea has submitted a planning application to change the ground floor office into a restaurant and delicatessen. He has also applied for a licence to sell alcohol.
Mr O'Shea has been an estate agent for 27 years, the last 15 owning his own business. He said: "The property market is shockingly bad so we are closing the sales part of it in March, but we will be carrying on with the rental business as that is doing well.
"On the sales side I haven't found it has recovered in the last two years. Maybe we took our eye off the market."
Mr O'Shea also runs a successful building company, called LCE Development, and he will continue with that as well as the restaurant, should it be granted planning permission. The restaurant would employ up to ten staff and would aim to open in may.
His wife, Amanda, will work in the delicatessen and the restaurant will be called The Peppermill.
The alcohol licence he has applied for states until 11.30pm but he said his initial plan was to open the restaurant as a daytime operation.
While he has no experience in the catering industry, Mr O'Shea thought there was a gap in the market for a brasserie-type restaurant and delicatessen.
He said: "This is out of my comfort zone. I can sell and build houses, but I have never sold a sandwich or a lump of cheese before. However, the menu is going to be really nice.
"It's not going to be ham, egg and chips, it's going to be brasserie-type food, the sort of things I like to eat when I go out and that doesn't cost a fortune.
"Service will be offered by people who smile, who are pleasant and helpful. I believe there is a niche in Devizes for it."
His property in St John's Street dates back to 1452, is Grade II listed and is 170 feet in length. Before he opened his estate agents it was Tytherleighs china shop.
Mr O'Shea's office is two doors from the Wetherspoon pub, The Silk Mercer, which used to be a Beale's of Bath ladies fashion shop. He said: "My premises is in a cracking spot. Hopefully I will get planning permission. Wetherspoons got permission for change of use."
Richard Jaggs, chairman of Devizes Chamber of Commerce, said: "It's a real shame when any business element closes but it's encouraging that Mr O'Shea plans to continue to use the space for commercial purposes. It's positive that there will be employment opportunities there and it will be a new facility for the town."
Source: Gazette & Herald
