Striking design for restaurant on former pub site scaled back

Proposals to redevelop the former Gallopers Pub site date back to 2019, and an application for a new restaurant, car park and block of four shops was approved by Bradford Council in 2020.

It was anticipated that the restaurant would be the first Yoh Burger to open in Bradford.

But later that year applicants Redbeck Group applied to change the design of that unit.

The former Gallopers site off Wakefield Road (Image: google)

Instead of the more traditional restaurant with a large, glazed frontage, the burger unit would be replaced with a restaurant created from numerous shipping containers, stacked on top of each other, painted yellow and arranged in an unusual, blocky design.

That change was also approved by Bradford Council, with planners calling it a “high quality design.”

But since that approval the prominent site, on one of the main gateways to the city centre, has remained empty with little sign of any future development.

This month the Redbeck Group has submitted the final parts of the plans that would allow the development to finally move forward. The application is to discharge conditions of the original planning application – including location of car and cycle parking spaces, electric charging points on the site and landscaping details, needed before any work starts.

This application also reveals that the plans have now reverted back to the original design for the restaurant unit – with no mention of the shipping container design.

The plan for the restaurant has reverted to a more traditional design (Image: Redbeck Group)

The Telegraph & Argus contacted the Redbeck Group for a comment on this design being changed, but has yet to receive a response.

The shipping container design divided opinion among Telegraph & Argus readers when it was first revealed.

One reader said: “Brilliant design should also win a few awards.”

Another said: “Its close proximity to a dual carriageway, will distract passing traffic which could result in accidents!

“The original architect render was far more in keeping with acceptable appearance and wasn't a hotch-potch of bolted shipping containers.”

Another, using the alias Poodle Power, said: “It will become yet another blot on Bradford's landscape for years to come and a total eyesore.”

Another said: “Interesting design. I don't mind quirky if it sits well in the surrounding context but I can't quite make my mind up on this one.”

And another raised concern that the yellow colour could attract midges and bumblebees.