A NEW tattoo studio is set to come to Cardiff Bay.
Plans have been approved to transform the vacant Polka Dot Gift Shop in Mermaid Quay into a tattoo studio.
The application reads: “The proposed change is considered to enhance the current retail and leisure offer at Mermaid Quay and the wider district centre and would not unacceptably harm the prevailing character due to the minor size and scale of [the] unit.”
It adds: “The proposal is not considered to cause unacceptable harm to the prevailing character of the district centre and would instead enhance the current offer and occupy a vacant unit.”
The proposal was to change the use from purely shops to a mix of shops and sui generis (Latin for “of its own kind”) use.
The tattoo studio falls under sui generis use.
According to the officer’s report the change of use to include a tattoo studio would bring a vacant unit back into “beneficial use” as well as “an active frontage” and create “additional footfall in the centre”.
It reads: “It is considered that the use would not result in any additional loss of amenity to nearby residents and adjacent business occupiers to that experienced by the existing use in terms of noise or smell and hours of operation having regard to the nature of the proposed use.”
It continues: “The site is located within a designated commercial centre where residents in such a mixed use area cannot expect the same standards of amenity as those living in a wholly residential area.”
The application reads: “Given the site occupies a unit along a parade of mixed uses and is surrounded by the lively and vibrant environment of Mermaid Quay as a retail and leisure destination the proposal is not considered to introduce a use that would increase the existing relationship between the locality and its nearest residential receptors.”
