{"id":123090,"date":"2025-09-08T15:16:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T15:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/123090\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T15:16:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T15:16:10","slug":"plans-to-transform-former-darlington-book-shop-approved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/123090\/","title":{"rendered":"Plans to transform former Darlington book shop approved"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  Earlier this year, The Book and Film Exchange on Victoria Road was emptied\u00a0of its books and furniture, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenorthernecho.co.uk\/news\/24961312.future-book-film-exchange-darlington-uncertain\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">leaving questions over its future in the town.\u00a0<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The bookshop had been a staple on the street for decades, with its extensive displays often spilling books onto the street and catching the eyes of commuters on their way to Darlington Station.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Back in February, The Northern Echo was unable to confirm whether the store had permanently closed, despite Google stating it had shut for good.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  It also followed rumours online that the venue &#8211; which had previously been branded a\u00a0\u201csection of paradise\u201d &#8211;\u00a0had closed.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  However, plans lodged with and recently approved by Darlington Borough Council have now confirmed that the shop was vacant as of May.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  <img   alt=\"How the bookshop looked in February\" style=\"width: 100%;\"\/>How the bookshop looked in February (Image: THE NORTHERN ECHO)\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Now, a new black aluminium shopfront will be installed to replace the \u201cdilapidated\u201d single-glazed timber frame. Both doors will remain.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The council\u2019s delegated report details how the existing front was \u201ctired and in need of refurbishment\u201d and so the replacement was \u201cwelcomed\u201d.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  It said: \u201cThe design is considered to be reflective of the current shop frontage and the proposed materials would also be considered permissible.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Read more:\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cThe choice of colour is similar to the existing situation and the aluminium material is considered suitable for this relatively traditional styled shop frontage.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u201cWhilst the windows may be replaced with double glazed units, this is not considered to unduly detract from the character of this shop frontage.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Plans were approved on July 23.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Earlier this year, The Book and Film Exchange on Victoria Road was emptied\u00a0of its books and furniture, leaving&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":123091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[457,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-123090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-books","tag-books","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}