A FORMER high street bank in Neath Port Talbot could be turned into café and a three-bedroom flat in the coming months after a planning application was handed in to the local council.
If approved, the plans would see the New Road, Skewen, property transformed from being an empty former Lloyds bank building, back into “beneficial use.”
The Skewen branch of Lloyds was understood to have been closed back in 2016 with the building falling into disrepair in the years since.
However, the latest proposal, which will now be considered by the local planning authority, would include work to transform the building in to a café and takeaway on the ground floor.
Additionally, it would see the creation of a three-bedroom flat on the first floor alongside bicycle and bin storage and access steps to the rear garden.
The work would also include “modest” external alterations to the front of the building with a new shop front and windows as well as further alterations at the rear.
Plans say the site is a mixed commercial frontage within what is known as Skewen District Centre, between a pub and another takeaway restaurant.
The report reads: “The application site has historically been used as a bank but has not been in used for a number of years.
“The building is already in non-retail use and as such the change of use of the premises will bring the building back into use which will have a positive impact on the location and character of the area.”
It adds: “It is envisaged that the premises will remain open in the daytime providing breakfast, lunch and evening meals whilst also providing an evening venue which will increase footfall throughout the day and evening and as such the scheme will result in the introduction of a use which complements the commercial core.”
The application was handed in to the council in May of 2025 and comes shortly after a similar application to turn a former bank in Neath town centre in to a bar and restaurant.
