How these Braintree town centre buildings could be revived in the coming months

The Manor Street regeneration scheme is now underway, with work beginning on a new cafe, car park, bus interchange, flats, health centre and Travelodge hotel.

The work will coincide with the pedestrianisation of the Market Place, Great Square and High Street later this year.

A ban on traffic was approved by Braintree Council last December and £2.5m will be spent on improving the town centre as part of the pedestrianisation project.

Despite the growing optimism surrounding Braintree's future, there is no hiding the fact there remains a number of empty buildings scattered around the town centre.

Some have sadly been vacant for several years now and there are fears the empty shop fronts will undermine the regeneration of the town.

But there are a number of plans and proposals in place to fill these seemingly lifeless buildings.

Here is a list of approved and proposed plans which could soon be part of the new era:

13-15 Bank Street

Formerly the home of the now liquidated clothes shop, Store Twenty One, this building will take on a new lease of life when it reopens as a Turkish restaurant.

With permission approved last year, Mosaic is set to open in the coming weeks and will offer a range of traditional Turkish and Mediterranean dishes.

Work is well underway inside the building to prepare for the grand opening, and bosses at Mosaic are now hiring staff.

Roles such as barmaid, waiter, waitress and food runner all need to be filled.

Anyone interested should email their CV to mosaicturkishrestaurant@gmail.com

92 High Street

As reported by the Times earlier this week, a new cocktail bar and coffee shop is set to open on High Street.

Allamber Ltd has been given the all clear by council bosses to set up the new venture after gaining planning permission and a licence.

The plans will see the business run a coffee shop in the day between 11am and 3pm and cocktail bar in the evenings.

Food will also be available to customers in the daytime in an effort to make the bar a place to meet and socialise.

A full-time and three part-time members of staff will run the business, which has capacity to operate seven days a week.

In the planning statement accompanying the plans, Allamber Ltd says it wants to provide customers with a pleasant experience and aims to offer high-calibre drinks.

It also says the bar could be available for private hire for birthday parties or wine tastings.

Allamber also states the bar will provide background music and late-night refreshments, however this will likely only be on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

It says the volume of the music will be below "conversation level".

2-4 Great Square

Plans are in place to set up half a dozen escape rooms inside this building.

A change of use application has been submitted to Braintree Council to allow the existing offices inside to be converted.

The applicant is asking for permission to run the escape rooms seven days a week, with opening hours suggested of 8.30am until 9pm.

The proposals were put forward last October but face stern opposition, with Braintree Council's environmental team objecting to the plans because of a "lack of detail" in the application.

76-78 High Street

The once home of the Times, the building has been empty for some time now and is dearly in need of some attention.

Grace Charles London is looking to do just that and wants planning permission for a mixed use development.

Under the proposals, a retail space would be retained on the ground floor, while the first and second floors would be turned into three 1-bedroom flats.

A rear extension is also proposed which would create space for a further four 1-bedroom apartments.

Similar plans were rejected by Braintree Council but the applicant has returned with a revised scheme which it hopes will get approval.

3 Coggeshall Road

Based just behind the White Hart pub, this former storage and distribution unit could be turned into a series of one-bedroom homes.

Brand Builders and Developers Ltd has proposed to convert the building into eight cottages.

An initial application has been rejected by Braintree Council's planning officers, who raised concerns about the lack of space on the site.

It is not known if or when a new application will be submitted.