Tomahawk plan for ‘Yarm Fisheries’ chippy knocked back

Last year, plans were announced for restaurant firm Tomahawk Steakhouse to open Yarm Fisheries at 89 High Street following the closure of Barnacle’s, which left the town without a chippy. 

The new venture is earmarked to take over the former Pollo takeaway and Greedy Ted’s pizza shop, and was initially hoping to launch earlier this year. 

However, the plans have now faced a setback after Stockton Council rejected retrospective planning permission and listed building consent to install a ventilation flue to eliminate “both cooking vapours and bad smells”. 

But the council argued that the plans did not provide enough information on why the flue would not negatively impact on the area, branding the design as “obtrusive and incongruous feature”. 

The location of the new fish and chip shop (Image: THE NORTHERN ECHO)

However, Tomahawk owner Howard Eggleston said he has not given up on bringing a new chippy to Yarm, and is already investigating how he can make it happen. 

He explained: “We have just had permission refused for it a couple of weeks ago. But we haven’t given up. 

“Our extraction flu was refused and I have got another extraction company doing another survey as we speak. But I don’t give up on anything. 

Tomahawk also has a restaurant in Yarm nearby (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)

“We’ll just see what happens with it, but it is definitely a knock back.”

Howard said there are ongoing discussions around whether the nearby Tomahawk restaurant could launch a fish range for eat in and takeaway in the meantime. 

As previously reported, Tomahawk had secured the vintage name from the owner of ‘Yarm Fisheries’, which dates back to the 1970s, for the new shop last year. 

Howard previously said it even has the potential to bring back the vinegar from Cecil Wren, who owned the vinegar factory in Yarm which last operated in the early 1970s.

Cecil Wren established his vinegar brewery on the Durham bank of the Tees, to the west of the Yarm railway viaduct, in the former paper mill in 1904.

From the Durham bank of the Tees looking at Yarm’s viaduct in the 1950s. The chimney in the foreground was part of Wren’s Vinegar Brewery

There, he brewed ale and then fermented it into vinegar until the factory closed decades later in 1971, before being cleared the following year.

The update on Yarm Fisheries comes just days after The Echo revealed Tomahawk is planning to open Spanish tapas spot La Terraza in the upstairs of its current Yarm restaurant.

The project has been months in the making and is eyeing up a launch in autumn. 

Meanwhile, the ground floor restaurant will remain as popular steak chain Tomahawk, which will also get its own refurb in Autumn.