Nottingham’s caffeine wars are about to get even more crowded.
Starbucks has unveiled plans to open a new city-centre branch inside the former Patisserie Valerie unit in the elegant Exchange Arcade, tucked beneath the Grade II*-listed Council House complex on Smithy Row.
If approved, the global coffee giant would transform the long-vacant space into a 28-seat café, complete with a service counter, accessible toilet and back-of-house facilities spread across the ground floor and basement. The arrival would take Starbucks’ tally of locations in and around Nottingham city centre to roughly a dozen.
Plans submitted to Nottingham City Council include a refresh of the existing shopfront, with the frontage repainted in a dark grey colour scheme alongside new signage, a projecting logo and window graphics. Importantly, the historic structure of the shopfront would remain intact.
According to planning documents, the fit-out has been carefully designed to respect the heritage of the Exchange Buildings. Historic features will be retained and protected wherever possible, while an existing dumbwaiter could be removed (subject to specialist assessment) to create space for new building services.
Starbucks says the scheme will build on the unit’s long-standing café use and help boost footfall in the Exchange Arcade. As the design statement puts it, the proposal would support the “vitality and viability” of both the arcade and Nottingham city centre.
One thing that won’t be arriving? Pavement tables. The plans contain no proposals for outdoor seating.
For now, the application remains with Nottingham City Council, but if it gets the green light, coffee lovers may soon have another spot to grab a flat white in one of the city’s most atmospheric shopping destinations.
