A long-standing Folkestone restaurant could be turned into flats one day... but for now the owners have no plans to shut up shop.

A planning application has been submitted to transform Tavernetta, in Clifton Gardens, into two, two-bed apartments.

But owners Tommaso and Kirstine Borrello say the application is just a 'contingency plan' for the future, following an uncertain year.

For now, they are looking forward to re-opening the Italian back up to customers from next month, in line with the government's roadmap out of lockdown.

Mrs Borrello, 51, said: "As we look at it now, we're planning to open and welcome customers back.

"But anything is possible in the current climate. You just never know what will happen.

"By submitting the application for flats, it gives us options in the future.

"We have to continually adapt to the ever changing circumstances."

La Tavernetta, as it was originally known, opened in Folkestone in 1965.

Mr Borrello, 59, started working at the restaurant in 1977, and the couple took it over from the previous owners 15 years ago.

They have been forced to change the way they run the business due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Mrs Borrello said: "We've had to change our business model entirely. When lockdown first started, we were at home in shock for the first two weeks, having been forced to close.

"We thought 'what are we going to do?'

"We decided to do takeaways and changed the menu. It did really well. We'd never done pizzas before, but we introduced them to the menu and got a brand new pizza oven.

"In the winter lockdown, we found people didn't really want to come out to collect food. So we signed up to Just Eat.

"Everything that comes at you, you just have to adapt in order to survive."

The couple say the last year has been a 'sobering' experience for the food industry.

'Everything that comes at you, you just have to adapt in order to survive...'

"We visited Canterbury for the first time in a year this week,"Mrs Borrello said, "and saw how many cafes and restaurants will never open again.

"It's very sad."

The husband and wife duo, who have children Samantha and Luca, say they can't put a time frame on changing the restaurant into flats.

But plans on the council's planning portal show the basement restaurant could be turned into two, two bed apartments. More flats already exist above the restaurant.

Mr Borrello added: "If it is approved, the plans last for a long time. So we wouldn't have to do anything straight away."

A neighbour who has commented on the plans is in support of the scheme. They said: "As a resident of the building in question I would like to register my support for this application.

"Although I will miss the restaurant on my doorstep I feel it will, overall, benefit the building and residents to have the occupation become purely residential.

"In terms of aesthetics it will greatly improve the street scene as the presence of a restaurant and the associated signeage feels slightly incongruous in this day and age."

To view the plans, search 21/0520/FH on Folkestone and Hythe District Council's planning pages.

To see more public notices, visit www.kentonline.co.uk/advertise/public-notices/

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