Jardin Tequila Bar submits plans for Colombia Press unit

The former pub has remained vacant ever since Wetherspoon shut it in February 2023, leaving a hole in a key town centre location.

In September that year, SOBE Restaurant Management Group Limited said it plans to open the venue, called 'Jardin, Mexican Concina and Tequila Bar', at the site and suggested it would be opening at the end of 2023 or early 2024.

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Proposed floorplan for the restaurant. (Image: Watford Borough Council planning portal, Jardin Mexicana Uk Limited)

More than four months of 2024 have gone by without any opening or update from the company, but the new planning application appears to have put any fears to rest.

The proposal, added to the Watford Borough Council Planning Portal today (May 9), is for an illuminated sign to go outside the unit bearing the restaurant logo and name over the front entrance.

Proposed frontage for the restaurant. (Image: Watford Borough Council planning portal, Jardin Mexicana Uk Limited)

It also includes a 3D image of how the frontage would look and a floor plan for how the restaurant would be laid out.

The planning application is currently “pending consideration”.

Jardin, Mexican Concina and Tequila Bar is designed to operate as a Mexican restaurant in the evening and then turn into a nightclub at 10pm.