Boost for town centre as works start on restaurants

Ten months after it was devastated by a fire builders have started carrying out repair work at French brasserie Cote.

The trader was forced to close in September after the early morning blaze destroyed the building’s roof and damaged part of the first floor.

It recently had plans approved by Horsham Distict Council to refurbish the listed building whilst also carrying out alterations and creating a new staircase.

Builders have been spotted this week working at the site which - according to Cote’s website - is due open by late summer.

Meanwhile workers have also been seen inside the former Wabi building.

The contemporary Japanese eatery shut at the end of May after owners Paul and Verity Craig sold the site to British pub chain Brewhouse Bar & Kitchen Group.

Signs advertising the new owners have gone up in the windows and builders have been working inside the building as they look to turn it into a brewpub, with beer set to be brewed on site.

The pub is expected to open in August.

East Street has struggled over the past few months with several traders in the area shutting up shop.

Strada closed its popular restaurant in January whist Marion de Montfort and St Catherine’s Hospice also closed their stores earlier this year.

Horsham Matters also withdrew from the street moving to a new base in Redkiln Close.

However, last month dessert and diner Rockafellas opened in the former St Catherine’s Hospice unit while Brock Taylor opened a new premises in the empty shop next to its current estate agents.

With Cote and Brewhouse set to open in the summer the area will get a new lift and is also expected to be boosted by the completion of the neighbouring Piries Place development, complete with a new 516 space car park, in 2019.

UPDATE: ‘It was an offer we could not refuse’... Wabi owners speak out over closure

UPDATE: Four rescued from flat after blaze breaks out at Cote

Demolition complete as work steps up on £35m Piries Place development