T.G.I.Friday's Owners Set for Return to Broadway Site

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Former station will become new "concept restaurant" called Ticket Hall

Carlson, the multi-national giant behind the T.G.I. Friday's chain is set to return to the site of the former Fulham Broadway tube station with a new "UK concept restaurant" called Ticket Hall.

T.G.I. Friday's occupied the most prominent corner site on Fulham Broadway from 2005 until 2010, when it left and was replaced by an upmarket grocery store called UNION Market.

However, this store ran into financial trouble 18 months after opening and it closed its doors on February 12 last year. Since then, there have been various rumours about newcomers moving in, but none have come to fruition.

Now however, Carlson has submitted the following application:

Change of use of former ticket office to mixed use comprising retail (Class A1) and restaurant (Class A3) at ground floor level with offices (Class B1) at first floor level; formation of bar servery counter to include the installation of 5no lower back fitting shelves, 2no upper back fitting shelves, 5no counter bottle coolers, removal of existing blackboards to existing 5no windows, reinstatement of existing 5no light fittings, formation of w.c. area, removal of part of walls and addition of new walls, addition of new doors and alterations to the floor surfaces at ground floor level; associated internal refurbishments.

An accompanying planning statement for the site, which it called The Old Station, says: " The proposal is to use the premises as one of the first UK concept restaurants by Carlson Restaurants. Ticket Hall, as it will be called, will be a restaurant where the food and drinks are lovingly crafted and are as sociable as the atmosphere. The restaurant will be catering for young professionals where quality over value is a key driver."

The statement reveals that the restaurant would be open from morning to till evening with proposed opening hours would be 9am till 11pm from Monday to Thursday and 9am till midnight on Fridays, Saturdays and Bank Holidays.

It also says: " The proposals seek to retain an element of retail within the ground floor use by the installation of two timber retail display cabinets, each to be located within the front windows either side of the main entrance.

" These display cabinets would be locked and would exhibit items which can be purchased by members of the public from staff over the counter at the restaurant. It is envisaged that such items would include pastries, freshly ground coffee, wood chips, home smoking kits for food, cook books, fresh herbs and condiments."

The planning statement says that planning officers raised a number of concerns at a pre-application meeting earlier this year, including installation of a bar across ticket hall panelling, placing dark coloured film on the glazed roof of the main hall, stepped access to a raised seating area, possibly creating a barrier to disabled access and replacing the shopfronts with folding doors.

The statement says that the proposals have since been significantly revised to take on board the comments raised.

Hammersmith and Fulham Council's Planning Applications Committee is due to consider the application within the next few months.

The Grade II listed building was originally the entrance arcade and booking hall of Waltham Green Station on the District Line. The original station building was replaced in 1910 with a new entrance designed by Harry W Ford to accommodate crowds for the newly built Stamford Bridge stadium. It was built on the site of the original station entrance which dated from 1880 when the Metropolitan District Railway (MDR, now the District Line) extended its line south from West Brompton to Putney Bridge. In 1952 the station name changed from Waltham Green to Fulham
Broadway.

July 16, 2013