Restaurant at Whitby TIC site given approval

Andrew Pern, who runs the Michelin-starred Star Inn at Harome and York’s Star Inn The City restaurant, will take over the town’s tourist information building for the new brasserie-style fish and seafood establishment.

Scarborough Council's planning committee voted today to give the restaurant planning permission. Cllr Martin Smith called it an "exciting opportunity".

Mr Pern, who was born and raised in Whitby, and played for the town’s rugby club, won a pitch to Scarborough Council to take over the building on building on Langborne Road, close to the harbour and overlooking Whitby Abbey.

He said the new restaurant, to be called The Star Inn The Harbour and due to open later this year, would cater for tourists and locals alike, and showcase the region’s finest fresh fish and seafood.

It will be his fourth Yorkshire eaterie, following the recent opening of Mr P’s Curious Tavern, near York Minster.

He said: “Opening a place in my home town has always been something that I’ve thought would happen one day.

“I have always championed all that’s great and good about Yorkshire, at my restaurants and even on television, such as when I represented the North East in the BBC Great British Menu.

“The North Sea is a massive part of my kitchen larder; the quality of the fish and shellfish is the envy of the world. At Whitby it will literally be on my doorstep.”

Mr Pern says he hopes to work with Yorkshire Coast College to offer opportunities and possible apprenticeships to its students.

The Pern family’s roots with Whitby span the generations. His grandfather, Ron Cordingley, taught at Caedman School and his paternal great grandfather started the town’s first medical practice.

More than 30 objections to the plans were submitted to the council, though the majority related to the loss of the TIC rather than specific objections to the restaurant. Some objectors felt the Star Inn the Harbour would provide "unwelcome" competition for existing businesses.