Popular Glasgow restaurant Six by Nico has been granted permission to sell alcohol from the former Fopp record store.
The restaurant chain secured planning permission for the Byres Road premises earlier this year, and it has now received the backing of the city’s Licensing Board.
It is planning to open a new venue— with a roof garden — in the building which was home to the record store and where the upper floor is currently the Italian restaurant Santa Lucia.
The restaurant will have a capacity of 192 people, with the roof garden able to host 60.
Jack Cummins, representing Six by Nico, said it would be a “very attractive addition to that part of Byres Road”.
“The rooftop bar will be screened with glass and aluminium constructions to act as acoustic barriers,” he added. “The open area is also set back from Byres Road to reduce the risk of noise leakage affecting the flats opposite.”
When plans were submitted to the council, Six by Nico revealed the intention is to “create one ownership with three facilities within — fine dining restaurant, bar and rooftop bar with dining”.
They added the rooftop bar would be “an asset for the thriving leisure/social scene of the local cosmopolitan community”.
It will also have “small trees and planting” to “create a mini habitat for birds and insects”.
Mr Cummins told the Licensing Board: “The premises are currently known as Santa Lucia and they are situated on the first floor of a two-storey building, opposite Waitrose at the end of Byres Road next to Hillhead Library.
“The bottom part of the building was Fopp Records, which died by digital. It’s very sadly gone.
“The good news is that frontage is going to become active again, because the plan is to incorporate the top floor restaurant into the ground floor.
“It’s brought to you by Nico Simeone, a Glasgow-born chef who is now one of the top restaurateurs in the UK with very successful restaurants in the major cities.”
Six by Nico currently has two restaurants in the city, on Argyle Street and Nithsdale Road, as well as venues in Edinburgh, Belfast, Manchester, Liverpool and London.
