An Italian restaurant in Weston-super-Mare town centre has revealed it is looking to downsize in a planning application to North Somerset Council.

The owner of Bottelino’s restaurant in the Boulevard is looking to leave the main restaurant on the lower floor untouched, but transform the mezzanine area into office space, which could then be leased out.

The restaurant, which opened in 2008, can accommodate 250 people at its current size but the upstairs section – which is currently used as a bar and dining area – is mostly unused.

There are no plans to make changes to the outside of the building, which is part of a conservation area.

A spokesman for Bottelino’s said: “The mezzanine area doesn’t get used very often because business is not as brisk as it used to be.

“There’s a real shortage of open plan office space in the town so we are just trying to make use of the building really.

“We decided to put in an application to close in the mezzanine area and turn it into offices and create employment, while keeping the restaurant which will possibly trade better.

“The restaurant will continue to trade from the ground floor, it is only the mezzanine and it is hardly used.”

The planning application is available to view on the council’s online planning portal, where comments can also be left.

The food chain started out as a Bristol-based company, but no longer has a presence in the city after it closed its Clifton branch in September last year, citing disagreements with the city council’s planning department as the reason for closure.

The chain still has branches in Yate, Portishead and Swindon.