THE owner of a Burnham-on-Sea guest house said she is ‘delighted’ after plans for a tearoom and a shop were given the green light.

Planners at Sedgemoor District Council have approved a proposal to change the use of part of The Round Tower Guest House, transforming the dining room into a tearoom, shop with a kiosk and a dining area with sea views.

Pheobe Pearce, 70, owner of The Round Tower Guest House, said she is ‘excited’ to get the tearoom open.

“This has always been something we have wanted to do ever since we got The Round Tower in 2011,” she said.

“We are delighted that Burnham and Highbridge Town Council and Sedgemoor District Council have supported our proposal to change our dining room and create a shop and a tearoom.

“Unlike a lot of other businesses, we are not going to sell chips or fried food, we are going to do some healthier options in the tearoom.

“And we are going to try our best to locally source everything as we already use local produce in the guest house.”

Pheobe said she thinks the new beach shop will help to ‘open up’ Burnham’s North Esplanade and hopes it will bring more tourists to the area.

“I am so excited for the future, I think this tearoom and shop will be really good,” she said.

“Not enough people come down the North Esplanade at the moment and it is quite a big area and a great space that we have which we can open up to the public.

“Hopefully it will bring more people into the town.

“It will also fit in really well with the Burnham Evolution Project from the town council to revitalise the seafront which I was involved in.”

Pheobe said she was ‘blown away’ after a few guests at The Round Tower wrote letters in favour of the plans.

She said she hopes to open the tearoom soon but said more work still needs to be done.

“Unfortunately I had an accident recently so the opening has been put back a bit but I hope we will open soon,” Pheobe said.

“We have had such a wonderful response from residents and from guests at The Round Tower.

“A few of them even wrote a recommendation letters for us to the council which was lovely.

“Everytime I tell anyone about our plans they are really positive and say they think its a great idea.

“I’m excited to open it.”