The former Tourist Information centre on the Manor Gardens. Photo by Simon Horn. Ref exe 7542-15-12SH To order your copy of this photograph visit www.exmouthjournal.co.uk and click on myphotos24

Plans have been submitted to open a café in the former Tourist Information Centre building in the Manor Gardens.

The building has been vacant since the old TIC was wound up, but East Devon District Council (EDDC) said in December it was searching for a leaseholder.

Now an application for a change of use has been submitted to planners by Debra Quine, of Camperdown Terrace, and EDDC has confirmed it has decided on a tenant.

An EDDC spokesman said: “We have reached agreement with a potential tenant, who has now submitted a planning application for change of use of the building. Finalising the lease will be dependent on permission being obtained.”

The application also says that the new tenants would want to fit awnings and a serving hatch to the building – work which would be done after the new café opens.

The application will now be considered by Exmouth Town Council, before EDDC’s planners makes the final decision.

EDDC previously said a café could be open by this summer.