Peckers wants to turn 41 Howardsgate, empty since May, into a fried chicken restaurant and takeaway open to 11pm on Saturdays. Comments close 23 September.

A shop on Howardsgate that has stood empty since May could become a fried chicken restaurant and takeaway. Two applications for 41 Howardsgate were validated by Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council on 27 August, and the public can comment until 23 September.

The applicant is named on the council’s register as Peckers. The proposal is a change of use from Class E, the general retail and services class, to sui generis, which is the class hot food takeaways sit in.

What is proposed

The main application, reference 6/2026/1384/FULL, covers the change of use and the building work:

  • a commercial kitchen, food preparation area, service counter and customer seating
  • a kitchen extraction canopy and air supply system on the flat roof at the rear
  • a retractable awning and three cowl lights on the front
  • a small external seating area at the front

A second application, 6/2026/1383/ADV, seeks advertisement consent for an illuminated fascia sign, an illuminated hanging sign, two internal digital screens and vinyl signs.

The hours applied for are:

  • Monday to Friday, 11.30am to 10pm
  • Saturday, 11.30am to 11pm
  • Sunday and bank holidays, 11.30am to 10pm

The bit the council will have to weigh

The unit is inside the Welwyn Garden City Conservation Area and inside the town centre’s Primary Retail Core, the stretch the local plan protects for shops.

The application form sets out what that means in floorspace. The building has 162 square metres of internal floorspace and all of it currently counts as tradable shop floor. Under the proposal, tradable floor area drops to 92 square metres, a net loss of 70 square metres, because the kitchen and back-of-house take the rest. The site area is given as 154 square metres.

Tradable floor area at 41 Howardsgate before and after the proposed change of use Two bars. Now, as a Class E retail unit, 162 square metres of tradable floor area. As proposed, a restaurant and takeaway, 92 square metres, a net loss of 70 square metres. Total internal floorspace stays at 162 square metres. 41 Howardsgate would lose 70 sq m of shop floor Tradable floor area, as stated on the planning application form. Total internal floorspace is unchanged at 162 sq m. Now (Class E shop) As proposed 162 sq m 92 sq m 70 sq m lost to kitchen and back of house The unit sits inside the Primary Retail Core and the Welwyn Garden City Conservation Area. It has been vacant since 1 May 2026. Source: Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council planning application 6/2026/1384/FULL, application form. Graphic by Welwyn Online.
Graphic by Welwyn Online. Figures as stated by the applicant on the planning application form.

The form records the last use of the unit as Class E and says that use ended on 1 May 2026, with no employees on site now. The applicant’s design and access statement argues the change would bring “an active commercial unit into continued occupation” and that a restaurant improves the frontage compared with a vacant shop. A heritage statement submitted with the application says the extraction plant sits behind the parapet in a rear yard and that the scheme would preserve the character of the conservation area.

Who Peckers is

Peckers is a Hertfordshire fried chicken business. Its own website, peckerschicken.co.uk, gives its founding year as 2023, lists sites in Hitchin and Stevenage, says the company is expanding and describes it as run by two brothers.

Companies House records a company called PECKERS WGC LTD, incorporated on 31 July 2026, five days before the planning application was submitted. Its registered office in Kempston, Bedford is the same address used by PECKERS STEVENAGE LTD, which has been filing accounts since 2024. The new company’s stated line of business is take-away food shops and mobile food stands.

The business has not announced a Welwyn Garden City site on its own website, and the planning documents do not name an opening date. Nothing has been decided: both applications are listed as under consultation.

What it means for you

Comments on either application close on 23 September 2026 and can be left through the case pages linked above. Both are marked for a delegated decision, which means council officers will decide them rather than the planning committee, so there will be no public meeting on this unless that changes.

The site is in the Handside ward, represented by councillors Gemma Moore, Michal Siewniak and Anthony Skottowe.

If you want to raise the extraction system, late-night noise, litter or the loss of shop floor, the consultation period is the point at which those comments carry weight. Objections to a hot food use are usually weighed on noise, odour, hours and highways grounds rather than on competition with existing businesses, which is not a planning matter.

More local coverage: planning news across Welwyn Hatfield, the town centre BID ballot that starts on 23 September, and parking and roadworks in the town centre.

Sources: Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council planning register, applications 6/2026/1384/FULL and 6/2026/1383/ADV, including the redacted application form, design and access statement and heritage statement; Companies House; peckerschicken.co.uk.