A Ludlow business with plans to expand has put in a first planning application in anticipation of taking on its neighbour's lease.

Th Harp Lane Deli is seeking approval for an additional three fixed awnings, internal alterations and the erection of solar panels at the Church Street building planning application as it prepares to expand into the former Fruit Basket at 2 and 3 Church Street.

The application is for works to a Grade 2 Listed Building including breaking through into 2-3 Church Street, additional external catering facilities including four outdoor table and chairs for which a pavement licence has been obtained, permanently fixed awnings to match with the existing and solar panels to the South roof, within the Ludlow Conservation Area. The proposal will further assist in the viability of the long established business.

The Fruit Basket closed earlier this year after approximately 30 years in business, and the owner of Harp Lane Deli, Ed Sinclair, now plans to extend the business into Nos 2 and 3.

"The initial plan," says manager Steve Lewis, "is to move the deli to the back of the space and expanding the seating to the front."

Once the lease has been transferred, it is hoped to start building work in November, but before that, the internal alterations referred to in the current application will connect the two properties, and additional awnings will be installed on the Harp Lane side.

The business, which has been owned for the past three years by Mr Sinclair, who also owns The Townhouse in Ludlow, is taken from the medieval alleyway, Harp Lane, that runs alongside the shop.

No. 4 Church Street was one of the earliest buildings in Ludlow to be made from bricks. Up until then wattle, daub, and timber had been the materials of choice. From the mid-1800s, three or four generations of the Larcombes occupied the premises, selling cycles, perambulators and toys.

Albert Larcombe, born in 1893, survived the trenches of the Great War and came back to run the shop where he was born.

Any comments on the current application should be made by Thursday, June 27 at shropshirecouncil.gov.