The owner of a popular family-run Turkish restaurant in Maldon hopes to expand his site to improve its services and offer "all-day fine dining", it has been revealed.

Since opening Sark Restaurant on Maldon High Street in 2017, Salman Barli has welcomed hundreds of customers a week and now employs 20 full-time and eight part-time staff.

Mr Barli has now taken over the Grade II* listed building at 69-71 High Street to build on this success, following Prezzo's closure in August, and hopes to expand the site to offer all-day dining for his customers.

The plans would include extending the building's kitchen and rear seating area, converting the restaurant's garden into a floral, Covid-secure al fresco dining area and relocating the existing kitchen exhaust fan unit to the first-floor terrace.

The new kitchen layout would provide a fire exit for staff which is not currently available.

A statement submitted with the application says the original building, which dates back to the late medieval period, would "not be affected by any of these proposals".

It says Mr Barli's "aspiration is to develop the site to provide a high-quality fine dining restaurant".

It continues: "This will be achieved by extending the kitchen to create a better working atmosphere for employees, extending the rear extension to create a better dining atmosphere for employees and relocating the existing exhaust fan unit on the first-floor terrace, where it used to be.

"The restaurant will provide daytime lounge and dining spaces, including garden dining."

The proposal must be granted listed building consent and planning permission to go ahead.

Maldon District Council will make the final decision.

UPDATED, 22/02, 8.40pm: This article was updated to clarify the plans refer to 69-71 High Street, which Salman Barli is now leasing following the closure of Prezzo in August.

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