Federal has confirmed a 100-cover cafe in the old Lush unit on Coney Street this autumn. Fit-out starts late September, its applications undecided.

Federal will open a cafe in the old Lush unit on Coney Street this autumn, the Manchester brunch business has confirmed. It will seat 100, fit-out is due to start in late September, and all three of the planning applications it lodged in August are still awaiting a decision.

Updated 22 September 2026: Federal has confirmed the opening, the size of the venue and the timing. The consultation described below has since closed, and the council’s deadline to decide is 7 October.

What Federal has confirmed

The York cafe will be a 100-cover venue with a large outdoor area and a second level of seating, and the company says there is potential to use it for private hires and events. Fit-out at Coney Street is due to begin in late September, ahead of a planned opening later this year.

A wooden table shot from above, set with French toast topped with berries, avocado toast with poached eggs, a bowl of porridge with raspberries and blueberries, banana bread, a matcha latte and a cappuccino.
Brunch dishes and coffee from Federal's menu. Photo: supplied by Federal

The building is Grade II listed, and Federal says the interior will keep and show off the original brickwork and other heritage features alongside its own style. The expansion is part of a £3 million investment from Foresight Group behind a national rollout.

Federal’s founder, Claudio Ribeiro, said: “York feels like a natural fit for Federal. It has a strong independent spirit, a huge student community and a thriving food and drink scene, alongside an incredible year-round visitor economy.”

He said the business was “excited to create something that feels unmistakably Federal while celebrating the history and character of the building”, and that York would get “amazing brunches, top-quality speciality coffee and five-star service”.

Two members of staff in aprons working behind a coffee bar, next to an orange espresso machine, in a cafe with burnt orange walls, exposed brickwork and chalkboard menus.
Staff making drinks behind the coffee bar at Federal. Photo: supplied by Federal

The company describes York as its fifth cafe. Its own locations page lists five addresses, but explains the count: three sites in Manchester city centre (Nicholas Croft in the Northern Quarter, 194 Deansgate and Circle Square on Oxford Road), a coffee cart at Altrincham Market, and 34 Boar Lane in Leeds, which opened in December 2025 and was its first in Yorkshire. Federal was founded in Manchester in 2014 and takes its cue from the neighbourhood cafes of Australia and New Zealand. It calls its service style “Sunny Side Service”, and says it has been named the UK’s most popular independent cafe and ranked fourth in the world, on the strength of more than 1.1 million TikTok views and close to 400,000 Google searches a year. Those are the company’s own figures.

The menu in York will be the core Federal one, with seasonal food and drink specials changing through the year. The company says it makes as much as it can in house and buys from independent suppliers where it can.

Two hands holding tall cans branded FEDERAL, each filled with layers of green matcha over milk, one with a red fruit layer at the bottom and one with a yellow layer.
Federal's canned iced matcha. Photo: supplied by Federal

Where the three applications stand

Federal’s three applications for the Coney Street unit were all still recorded as “awaiting decision” on the council’s register on 22 September 2026. The council’s deadline to determine all three is Wednesday 7 October 2026.

The applications were received on 11 August and validated on 12 August 2026:

  • 26/01483/FUL for the kitchen extraction system, plant to the rear and shopfront alterations including a canopy
  • 26/01484/LBC for listed building consent covering the same works plus internal alterations to the ground and first floors
  • 26/01485/ADV for one fascia sign and one hanging sign

The public consultation on the main application closed on 3 September, the advertisement period ended on 9 September and the site notice expired on 17 September. The register records eight neighbours consulted and one comment received, which is logged as neither an objection nor a letter of support. Four council consultees were asked for a view and none had responded by 22 September. The case officer is Katherine Stretch, and the site sits in Guildhall ward.

So the fit-out beginning this month runs ahead of any decision on the extraction system, the shopfront and the signs. That is not unusual, because the cafe use itself needs no permission, as set out below, but the works that do need consent have not yet been granted.

Two plates in low window light: French toast layered with cream, berries and caramel sauce, and behind it a savoury stack topped with a poached egg and micro herbs.
French toast and a poached egg dish at Federal. Photo: supplied by Federal

What the applicant is proposing

The building is Grade II listed and stands in the Central Historic Core Conservation Area. The council’s register lists the site as Lush, Unit 3, 3 to 7 Coney Street. The planning and heritage statement submitted with the applications gives the address as No. 5 Coney Street and describes the unit as “a currently vacant retail unit (previously home to Lush)”.

The statement was prepared by Gallagher Planning of Beverley, with drawings by PHAUS. It lists the works as:

  • alterations to the shopfront, with a new fascia sign and hanging sign, both non-illuminated, and a canopy
  • installation of a kitchen extract and associated plant, with a condenser unit to the rear
  • painting the external walls of the rear courtyard, and installing seating benches and planters
  • internal fit-out, and new internal foul water drainage
  • an accessible toilet at ground floor
  • removal of a modern stud wall at first floor, replaced with a glass block wall
  • a new door to the rear

The statement says there would be “no loss of original fabric” and that all the proposed works would be “fully reversible”. That is the applicant’s case, not a council finding. The council has not yet reached a view.

The application form gives the proposed opening hours as 07:30 to 16:00 Monday to Friday, and 08:00 to 17:00 on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays.

On employment, the form records nought existing full-time staff and 20 proposed, a full-time equivalent of 20.

A sunlit wooden table shot from above with French toast and berries in the centre, avocado toast with bacon and poached eggs, a matcha latte, a bowl of berries and granola, banana bread and a bowl of porridge.
A table of Federal brunch dishes, with a matcha latte and a berry bowl. Photo: supplied by Federal

Why the cafe itself needs no permission

A detail worth understanding: the change from a shop to a cafe is not what is being decided here.

Both retail and food and drink sit inside Use Class E, the broad commercial class created in September 2020. The statement puts it plainly: “The application site consists of a currently vacant retail unit (previously home to Lush) and thus the building is in E use class. As such planning permission is not required for change of use to cafe, nor in our opinion for the use of the courtyard to the rear for external seating.”

So the council is being asked to rule on the physical works: the extraction system, the shopfront, the signage and the internal alterations to a listed building. Objections about the principle of a cafe on Coney Street would carry little weight, because that principle is not in the council’s gift. Objections about extraction noise, the appearance of the shopfront or harm to the listed building are the ones that engage the tests the officer has to apply.

What is listed, and what is not

The Historic England list entry quoted in the applicant’s statement covers Nos 3, 5 and 7 Coney Street together. It describes “four houses, one pair and two single, amalgamated to form department store”, early 18th century with 19th century rear extensions, and “alterations and shopfront c1960”.

Two details in that entry are unusual enough to be worth repeating. The rainwater heads on Nos 3 and 5 are inverted bell-shaped and decorated with winged cherub heads, dated 1775 and 1770. Both Nos 3 and 5 retain 18th century staircases. The list entry notes that the interior was not inspected when the buildings were listed.

The applicant argues the buildings were listed as one because a single shop occupied all three at the time, that they have since been split back into separate units, and that No. 5’s interior “has been heavily altered and very few historic features remain in situ”.

A rustic table laid with French toast topped with berries, a hot chocolate with latte art, a matcha latte, avocado toast with bacon, a bowl of fruit and a small vase of pink carnations.
More of the Federal brunch menu. Photo: supplied by Federal

The Coney Street context

Consent already exists for far larger changes to the same block. Application 23/00420/FUL, permitted, allows extensions to the roofs to create an additional storey, partial demolition of No. 5 to form a walkway connection through to the rear, new shopfronts, commercial floorspace and seven residential units on the upper floors. A variation, 25/01784/FUL, altering the approved plans and elevations, has also been permitted.

The same block’s planning history includes a refusal worth noting: in 2016, application 16/01269/FUL for change of use of pavement to provide outdoor seating was refused. This time the outdoor seating proposed is in the rear courtyard, not on the street.

What it means for you

The comment period has closed, so the next thing to watch is the decision. The council has until Wednesday 7 October 2026 to determine all three applications, and they can be followed on the planning register using the references above.

Three practical points:

  • The opening itself is not in doubt on planning grounds. The cafe use needs no permission, and Federal has committed to a fit-out starting this month.
  • The extraction system is the part most likely to affect neighbours. The site backs onto a public house, and the applicant states the surrounding buildings are commercial rather than residential.
  • Each application is separate, so the fascia and hanging signs could in principle be decided differently from the extract and the shopfront.

Federal has not given an opening date beyond “this autumn” and “later this year”, and its locations page did not list York when we checked on 22 September 2026. We will update this page when a date is announced.

Sources: City of York Council planning register, applications 26/01483/FUL, 26/01484/LBC and 26/01485/ADV, including the application form, the planning and heritage statement submitted on 11 August 2026, and the dates, comments and consultee tabs, checked on 22 September 2026. Opening details, investment figure and quotes from Federal’s press announcement of 22 September 2026. Site list from Federal Cafe.

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