The Fish Shack on Amble quayside would be rebuilt in shipping containers with a roof terrace and 10 more jobs. Comments close 19 November.
The Fish Shack, the restaurant on Amble quayside known for its old boat hulls and huts, wants to knock down its buildings and start again. A planning application asks to replace them with a single two-storey building with a roof terrace, built from shipping containers.
The owners say the rebuild would create about 10 more full-time equivalent jobs. The application was validated on 19 October, and comments can be made until 19 November (planning application 26/03639/FUL).
What is planned
The application comes from the Old Boat House food group. It runs two restaurants on the quayside, the Boat House and the Fish Shack, which together support about 65 full-time equivalent jobs. That figure is in the group’s planning statement.
The statement says the current Fish Shack “has evolved organically over time”. It is a mix of converted containers, upturned boat hulls, wooden sheds and outside seating. The group says that layout now limits the kitchen and the seating, and the old structures “require significant investment simply to sustain current operations”.
The replacement building would include:
- a two-storey restaurant on roughly the same footprint, with a roof terrace
- 21 high-cube shipping containers, made off site and finished on the quay, clad in timber and timber shingles with some Corten and black steel
- a room marked on the plans as a cookery school or private dining space, which the group says could link with schools and apprenticeships
- a lift and a ramp at the back, with steps up from the quayside
- solar panels on the roof, a kitchen extraction unit at first floor level and an enclosed bin store
- stands for 8 bikes
The design is by inboxprojects, a container building firm. The group’s agent, Michie Group of Alnwick, says the layout keeps a clear view from the Harbour Commissioners’ office up the river. The site is leased from the Warkworth Harbour Commission.
Fewer seats, more of them indoors
The rebuild would not make the restaurant bigger in seats. The application’s transport report counts 188 covers today. Most of them, 102, are at outside tables. The new building would hold 136.
The figures behind the chart, from the transport report:
| Area | Seats |
|---|---|
| Inside the shack | 42 |
| The boats | 20 |
| The huts | 24 |
| Outside tables | 102 |
| Today, all areas | 188 |
| Planned building | 136 |
The point, the group says, is more seating under cover, so the restaurant can trade further into the winter. The report gives today’s opening hours as 9am to 11pm, seven days a week. Parking would change little: one space in the harbour car park would go, and one accessible bay would be added near the new entrance.
The council’s pollution team wants more detail
Not every response so far is positive. On 22 October the council’s pollution control team recommended refusal “at the present time” (consultee comment, 22 October).
It praised the plans for demolition and building work. But it said no noise assessment had been submitted for the outdoor terrace or for the kitchen plant. It also said the type of food the restaurant serves is “exceedingly high risk for odour”. It wants a high-grade extraction system, with an electrostatic filter followed by carbon filters, shown on scale drawings.
The team said those points cannot be dealt with by planning conditions. It also said its response was meant “to support the applicant to bring about necessary amendments”, and offered a meeting.
Historic England said it would not comment and left the conservation questions to the council’s own advisers. The site is inside the Amble Conservation Area. One public comment had been posted by 30 October, in support, from the owner of two hospitality businesses near the harbour. It said the extra off-season footfall would help other local firms.
What it means for you
- You can comment until 19 November. Search for 26/03639/FUL on the council’s planning register. All the plans, drawings and reports are under the Documents tab.
- Council officers will decide it, not the planning committee, unless that changes. The register lists it for a delegated decision. Its formal target date is 16 November, but the noise and odour points may need revised plans first.
- No building dates yet. The application includes demolition and construction plans, but the group has not said when work would start or whether the restaurant would close while it happens.
Other big applications in the county are on our Northumberland planning news page.
Sources
- Northumberland County Council planning register, application 26/03639/FUL: summary, dates, planning, design and access statement, transport technical note, concept design pack (rev G, 6 October 2026), pollution control comment (22 October), Historic England letter (27 October) and public comment (30 October), all read 1 November 2026.
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