A restaurant at the Maltings could be turned into flats after three separate culinary ventures at the site failed to get off the ground.

The building, originally constructed as part of the Stroud Brewery Site on Merrywalks, was most recently home to an Italian restaurant on its ground floor and basement.

But Piazza Italia Trattoria has closed its doors after less than a year, and Maltings’ owner now wants to build seven flats in its place.

The restaurant’s closure follows that of Ciao Eatalia Ltd, which ran from November 2013 to July 2016, and Lucabaga Ltd which lasted from just September to December of 2016.

The application for planning permission for the flats argues that “the inabilities of three separate companies to operate profitably from the site over a four-and-a-half-year period would suggest that the use of the premises as a restaurant is not viable.”

The first and second floors of the Maltings have already been converted into self-contained flats.

Stroud District Council is now gathering views on the plans - and one challenge has already been raised.

Kate Russell, senior conservation officer for the council, fears the plans may “fundamentally change the building’s impassive character, and its solid industrial appearance”, according to a statement available on the SDC’s planning website.

The Maltings is located within Stroud’s industrial heritage conservation area, a swathe of protected land.

The council will collect all responses to the plans by May 3, and then must decide whether the architects must go back to the drawing board by June 5.