New cafe for Canvey

The building, which is on the Thorney Bay side of the seafront, is a former public toilet block and has been out of use for a number of years. Castle Point Borough Council owns the Western Esplanade building and has agreed a 25-year lease to Canvey resident Barbara Power who plans to turn it into a healthy eating café. Ms Power said: "We used to walk our dogs and ride our bikes along that section of the seafront and always said it would be lovely to have a café at that end. The council had handed it to an estate agent, so we had a look around." Choosing the menu was easy according to Ms Power. She explained: "My partner has had four bypasses and I'm diabetic, so we have to watch what we eat. "The food will be healthy – it won't be a greasy spoon selling chips or bacon. We want to have sandwiches, salads and paninis in the day, then from 5.30pm to 7.30pm we'd serve fajitas, salmon, pastas, things like that." The new café has already been granted planning permission and steps are being taken to meet the conditions laid down by planning inspectors. The conditions include a requirement for the new owners to allow public access to toilets in the building. Leasing the building to bring it back into public use forms part of Castle Point Borough Council's plans to regenerate the seafront area. Council Leader Pam Challis said: "The building has been empty for some time and it would be fantastic to see the community making good use of it. "We have also leased the former degaussing station, which is next to this block, and the plan is to turn that into a military museum. Providing the detail meets the requirements of the planning system, we could end up with two great new community facilities very soon." Ms Power is ready to open the café almost immediately. She said: "We have already bought everything to go inside. When we get planning situation dealt with we can have the place open within six weeks – I can't wait. It is going to be lovely."