Restaurant chain’s Mids expansion plan gets thumbs up

A national restaurant chain led by a former MasterChef winner has received the green light to expand into the Midlands, after plans to transform part of a Birmingham building into its latest venue were approved.Wahaca had applied to convert the basement and ground floor of 13 Temple Street in the city’s business district.The space, previously occupied by TSB Bank, will provide 140 covers and will trade between 8am and midnight daily.The approval from Birmingham City Council planners is subject to a number of conditions, including the prior submission of extraction and odour details.Wahaca was founded by Mark Selby and Thomasina Miers in 2007, two years after Miers won MasterChef.The company now has 18 branches across London, as well as sites in Manchester, Brighton, Liverpool, Bristol, Cardiff, Chichester, Southampton and Edinburgh.It said the Birmingham eatery would create a “modern and appealing restaurant” that fits in with other commercial units along Temple Street and the wider area.The approval comes days after Chilango, another Mexican restaurant chain with branches across London and Manchester, lodged plans to convert the former West Brom building Society on Colmore Row into its latest venue.