Restaurant and bar operator Loungers has emerged as the likely new occupier of Cardigan’s former Lloyds bank.

Loungers UK Ltd has applied to Ceredigion County Council for a new premises licence at 14 High Street, identifying the site simply as “Lounge”.

The company is seeking permission to sell alcohol between 9am and 11pm from Monday to Saturday, and between 9am and 10pm on Sundays.

Representations on the licence application can be submitted to the council until midnight on 3 November.

The application comes shortly after plans to convert the prominent former bank building into a restaurant were approved.

Cambrian News reported in September that planning permission had been granted for restaurant use at the Grade II-listed building, although at that stage no specific business occupier had been publicly identified.

The former Lloyds TSB branch, originally built in the 1880s as Brecon Old Bank, closed in June 2024 amid a wider wave of bank closures in Cardigan and Aberystwyth.

Earlier proposals for restaurant use had attracted opposition from Cardigan Town Council, which raised concerns about what it described as a growing saturation of bars and eateries in the town.

The latest licensing application now identifies Loungers UK Ltd as the applicant for the High Street premises.

Loungers operates a large network of café-bars across the UK under its Lounge brand, with individual venues generally given locally-inspired names.

The licensing application itself does not confirm when a new venue would open, nor the name the Cardigan premises would trade under.

The licensing process will now remain open for representations before the council determines whether the application can proceed as submitted or requires further consideration.

The development would bring a new use to one of Cardigan town centre’s most prominent former banking premises following its closure more than two years ago.