PLANS have been approved to create a cafe and kitchen at one of Winchester’s most iconic landmarks.

The decision will now see a portion of the City Mill, on Bridge Street, transformed to provide the new facilities.

According to the plans, the cafe will open up a new revenue stream to the attraction, which is managed by the National Trust.

In a design statement produced on behalf of the City Mill, a spokesman for Donald Insall Associates said: “The trust has re-evaluated the commercial potential of the heritage asset, in order to increase the revenue stream so as to be able to help fund further repair and flood-resilience works, thereby safe-guarding the Mill’s future further.

“To that end, the trust looks to provide a small café with servery and attendant Kitchen and Part M compliant WC to the east of the new oak screen at Upper Ground Floor.

“This will make the City Mill more appealing to visitors, generate its own income and also result in more repeat visits to this unique heritage asset, while not detrimentally impacting on it.”

It also said that flour produced at the mill would be included in the cafe’s menu, and will also allow the mill to offer monthly baking workshops and collaborate with local businesses.

The planning application follows work to strengthen the upper ground floor structure of the City Mill.

As previously reported, Winchester City Mill is the oldest working watermill in Britain and dates back more than a 1,000 years, but during the winter of 2013/14, flooding put areas of Winchester underwater and caused damage to City Mill.

It was also claimed in a Winchester City Council report earlier this year that should another major flood occur in the city centre, the mill could suffer a “total collapse”.