Indian restaurant in Kirkconnel to become a church

Image source, Google

Image caption, The former Indian restaurant in southern Scotland is being turned into a church

Plans to turn an Indian restaurant in southern Scotland into a church have been approved.

Dumfries and Galloway Council has conditionally granted the proposals for the former Shimla bar and restaurant on Kirkconnel's Main Street.

The Kirkconnel Community Church has bought the site with the intention of carrying out the conversion.

No major external changes have been proposed but internal work would remove a bar from its main hall.

The property is currently lying empty but was previously a restaurant and known as the Riverside Bar before that.

A council report noted the development would bring a disused building back into use and be "beneficial to the town centre in general".

It added the conversion from a public house to a church would not result in an "overall loss to community facilities" in the area.