Joe & The Juice eyes Chester Rows site for new café
By Dherran Titherington 3rd May 2026
An international juice bar chain could be heading to Chester city centre, with plans to transform a prominent unit on Bridge Street.
Joe & The Juice has submitted plans to convert 30 Bridge Street into a new juice bar and café. Established in 2002, the Copenhagen-founded brand is known for its coffee, sandwiches, juices and smoothies.
The application, submitted to Cheshire West and Chester Council, follows earlier plans to redevelop the site - formerly home to Tessuti - which never materialised.
In 2024, Giggling Squid applied to turn the unit into a Thai restaurant after the designer store closed earlier that year, but the approved scheme was not carried out.
Now, fresh proposals aim to bring the property back into use through a full internal refurbishment spanning from the basement to the second floor.
Plans include a reconfigured ground floor with a new free-standing service counter and upgraded customer areas, alongside expanded back-of-house facilities such as cold storage, freezer rooms and additional staff space. Upper floors would accommodate meeting rooms, staff areas and an accessible WC.
Planning documents note that a 2025 consent for a restaurant fit-out would have had a comparable level of impact on the listed building, with developers saying the latest approach is designed to respect the building's heritage while modernising its use.
The applicant argues the latest scheme would support regeneration in the city centre, adding: "Joe & The Juice are a prominent juice bar/café known by many people around the world for exceptional smoothies, juices and food.
"Allowing Joe & The Juice to operate in the space will bring increased employment and opportunities for local people and continued social and economic regeneration of the city."
The Grade II-listed building, which also includes 28 Bridge Street Row West, sits within the city's medieval Rows system.
Planning documents note that the interior has been heavily altered over decades of retail use, leaving little of historic significance.
Externally, changes are limited, with plans for repainting, new timber signage and subtle illuminated branding.
The application describes this as "a sensitive refresh of the façades" while "preserving the existing shopfront, ornate brackets and traditional upper-level timber and render".
You can find the full application here.
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