Inverness riverside nightclub plan lodged with Highland Council last summer has now been withdrawn by applicants
Uncertainty swirls around plans for a riverside nightclub in Inverness after the application was suddenly withdrawn.
Mars Projects Ltd had lodged a planning application last summer to turn existing office accommodation at 6 Ardross Terrace into into a ground floor nightclub and upstairs holiday lets.
Mars Projects is majority owned by the Mars Hospitality Group, which runs the nearby Tiger on the Wall restaurant in Ardross Terrace’s Strathness House Hotel - both of which are currently shut temporarily. It also owns Black Sheep Hotels - the operator of the Cluanie Inn in Wester Ross, and Rokeby Manor in Invergarry.
There was no immediate word as to why the application has been pulled, or if revised or alternative proposals are in the pipeline.
But it comes just a week after an application for a new staff accommodation annexe building off nearby Kenneth Street - which its applicant claimed would enable Strathness House Hotel to reopen - was also withdrawn.
Again it is not known what this means for those proposals or their impact on the riverside hotel's planned reopening.
If the nightclub plan had been approved, the three-storey property in Ardross Terrace would also have been converted into five holiday let accommodation units on the first and second floors.
The nightclub and bar, meanwhile, would have been located in the rear half of the ground floor and accessed via its own door from Ardross Terrace. The existing ground floor office space facing the river would have remained unchanged, with its own existing entrance providing separate entry.
However, the proposal sparked objections locally, with South Forrest solicitors and estate agents, whose door sits right next to the planned nightclub entrance from Ardross Terrace, among those who raised several concerns.
It was particularly worried that the two entrance doorways sitting immediately next to each other could result in issues with "noise levels, antisocial behaviour, [and] potential for rubbish being left on our property".
They also flagged concerns over vehicle access.
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