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Search the Public Notice PortalPlans have been submitted to secure retrospective planning permission for an award-winning Ribble Valley restaurant featured in the Michelin Guide.
Eight at Gazegill, based at Lower Gazegill Farm in Rimington, has grown from a small farm diversification project into one of Lancashire’s best-known countryside dining destinations.
The application to Ribble Valley Borough Council seeks approval for buildings and hard-standing car parking already in place within the existing farmyard complex.
The proposal is intended to formally recognise development that evolved as the business expanded rather than introducing new construction.
The restaurant was supposed to begin life as a tea room but has since developed into a field-to-fork dining venue serving up to around 100 guests, with almost all food coming from the 250-acre working farm surrounding the site.
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The evolution was driven by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the hospitality sector and an opportunity to engage a highly-skilled chef capable of delivering the food served there today.
The applicants said the result of this is a restaurant operation "more sophisticated than initially planned" but that "remains fundamentally true to the approved diversification principle of providing refreshment facilities connected to the agricultural enterprise."
Visitors pass through the livestock farm and fields before reaching the restaurant, which overlooks countryside towards Pendle Hill.
The menu changes with the seasons and focuses on meat, dairy, and vegetables produced on site or sourced from nearby Lancashire suppliers.
The business operates four days a week and offers brunch, lunch and evening set-menu dining, with customers seated at staggered times during dinner service.
The operation is described as an evolution of the original approved concept rather than a departure from it.
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The farm and restaurant together provide work for 37 local people, most of whom live within ten miles of the site.
The workforce includes apprentices and an employee recruited through an inclusion employment programme, and the family-run business says the operation helps keep multi-generational farming alive on the land.
The development has also helped raise the profile of the Ribble Valley food scene in Ribble Valley, gaining national recognition, including sustainability accolades and inclusion in the Michelin Guide.
Supporters say the restaurant supports local supply chains, attracts visitors to the countryside economy and helps protect traditional farming practices on the historic holding.
The applicants added the retrospective planning permission should be granted as the development represents an "exemplary model of sustainable rural diversification."
Ribble Valley Borough Council will consider the retrospective application at a later date.
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