Plans would reopen the empty former Prezzo in the listed Bear and Key, 1-3 High Street, Whitstable, as a restaurant called Jimmy Beez. Comments by 13 November.

The empty former Prezzo at the top of Whitstable High Street would reopen as a restaurant called Jimmy Beez, under plans lodged with Canterbury City Council.

The building is the Bear and Key, the old hotel at 1-3 High Street. Two applications for it were validated on 1 October: CA/26/01631 for planning permission and CA/26/01632 for listed building consent. Both are awaiting a decision.

The application form names the last use of the site as “Prezzo - Restaurant” and says it is now vacant. The applicant is East Kent Coastal Restaurants Ltd. Companies House shows it was incorporated on 15 August 2025.

What would change

The design, access and heritage statement, prepared by Pepå Creative of Maidstone, says the building would be refurbished “for continued use as a restaurant, trading as Jimmy Beez”. The work includes:

  • moving the commercial kitchen to the rear, so the middle room becomes dining space again
  • lining that middle dining room in tongue-and-groove timber
  • a new fireplace in the existing chimney position in the front dining room, and fitted seats in the bay windows
  • a recessed entrance lobby, with the existing doors rehung inside it and new stone steps
  • changes to the customer toilets and basement stairs, a dumbwaiter, and an accessible toilet on the ground floor
  • repairs to the render and sash windows, and new paint to the ground floor front
  • basement ventilation grilles at street level, and changes to the vents at roof and dormer level
  • “Jimmy Beez” frosted decals on the windows and two lit menu boards

The statement says customers who cannot use the stepped front door would use a side entrance off the neighbouring private road, with a bell to call staff.

The form gives the use class as a restaurant, E(b). It does not list opening hours, staff numbers or an opening date. Nothing in the documents says who is behind the Jimmy Beez name, and we found no website or announcement for a Whitstable Jimmy Beez.

The building

The statement says the Bear and Key Hotel was first listed at Grade II on 20 May 1977 (list entry 1106379), and sits in the Whitstable Town Conservation Area. Summarising Historic England’s list entry, it describes a four-storey, mid-19th-century brick building with:

  • five dormers with carved bargeboards
  • bay windows on the upper floors
  • a rendered and rusticated ground floor
  • a central doorway with an entablature on brackets

The statement says the building has a long history as an inn and hotel, and later as a restaurant.

The timetable

  • 1 October: both applications validated
  • 23 October: the council lists this as the date it will advertise them in the press
  • 13 November: consultation expiry date
  • 26 November: decision deadline

What it means for you

  • If you want to comment, search CA/26/01631 or CA/26/01632 on the council’s planning register before 13 November.
  • If you live nearby, the documents most worth reading are the proposed ventilation drawing and the roof plan, which show the new grilles and the roof-level changes.
  • If you were hoping to book, there is nothing to book yet. We will report the decision and any opening date once the operator announces one.

Other live applications are on our Canterbury planning applications page.

Sources