The former Cornwall Council One Stop Shop in Church Street may be turned into a sports bar and restaurant if planning permission is granted.

A source told the Packet that the building's owner - unnamed in the application - is Simon Fudge, who also owns The King's in Church Street, which was recently given permission to extend its opening hours.

An application has been made by Skyblueproperties for permission to convert the building into a bar/restaurant on the ground floor and three flats on the first floor.

It is believed that Mr Fudge has suggested that he may be opening a new sports bar in Falmouth, although he was unavailable to comment when contacted by the Packet.

Some residents, however, are concerned about the plans. Ian and Maggie Robertson, who also live on Church Street, wrote to Cornwall Council's planning department about their "considerable apprehension" over the application, describing the area as a "seething mass of shouting, screaming inebriates" on some nights.

They said: "If the authority is minded to approve this application - then we urge you to impose sufficiently stringent conditions relative to operating hours and noise limitation, to prevent the current situation from worsening.

"The applicant would no doubt argue that the recent extension of opening hours at the King's Public House until 3am at weekends would render such measures unnecessary - given that the whole length of Church Street is a seething mass of shouting, screaming inebriates between 11.30pm and 3.30am on some nights.

"However, there is a strong possibility that properties close to no.34 could be affected by loud music during the evenings - and will certainly suffer disturbance caused by staff cars leaving the premises between midnight and 1am."

Falmouth Town Council voted to support the application on Monday, with councillor for Boslowick ward Steve Eva saying: "quite obviously [the building] needs to be used. This seems to be a good use."

The application states that 20 jobs will be created in the new restaurant, with 14 new full-time employees and six part-time ones.

A spokesperson for Skyblueproperties said that they would "try and do minimal damage" when converting the building, and that they would only be making minor modifications.

It was built in 1786, and has now been empty for nearly three years.

The spokesperson also said that an acoustics report had been carried out and "there appears to be no impact there".

A design and access statement from Skyblueproperties said that the only negative aspect of the development "is the fact that the site has potential to give rise to a very slight impact on Falmouth Conservation Area and a non-designated heritage asset."

The application will now go to Cornwall Council's planning department for the final decision.