A popular Mexican-inspired restaurant has been given the green light to expand in a coastal town.

Eastern Daily Press: The Nachos Supreme from Taco Bell in Great Yarmouth.The Nachos Supreme from Taco Bell in Great Yarmouth. (Image: Archant)

A year after the first Taco Bell restaurant opened in Norfolk, plans to create a first floor eating area and extend the venue in Great Yarmouth have been approved.

The Taco Bell restaurant in Great Yarmouth created more than 25 jobs as it opened a 38-seat eatery and takeaway offering on Regent Road in December last year.

Eastern Daily Press: Approval has been granted for Taco Bell in Great Yarmouth to add an upstairs eatery.Approval has been granted for Taco Bell in Great Yarmouth to add an upstairs eatery. (Image: Archant)

At the time of the opening - much to the delight of fans of the Tex-Mex fast food chain - it became the 32nd Taco Bell restaurant to be unveiled in the UK, with some people saying Yarmouth was "lucky" to have Norfolk's first Taco Bell.

Now, after Taco-Time Limited lodged plans in April to extend by opening an upstairs restaurant and remodel the outside, the proposals have been approved with conditions by Great Yarmouth Borough Council.

The development, which centres around "first floor restaurant extension (A3) to existing Taco Bell restaurant and takeaway; the installation of A/C condensers," was given the go-ahead last week.

In approving the plans, the council's delegated report states: "The application is to extend 114A Regent Road, which is currently occupied by Taco Bell, to create a first floor eating area.

"The first storey extension will be an additional 3.1m taller than the existing building resulting in a total height of 7.6m.

"The extension is not considered to be out of keeping with the character of the area and will result it being a similar height to the property to the north.

"As such it is not considered to be an over-development of the site."

An objection to the plans was received from a neighbouring business with concerns raised about the alleyway which separates the two properties and that "the extension would block light from the external staircase."

The council report stated: "Whilst it is noted that there will be an impact, it is not considered that the loss of light will be significantly adverse."

Last December Taco Bell took over premises that had been made vacant by Spud-u-like, which had been in Yarmouth for some 30 years.

The restaurant serves a variety of Tex-Mex foods that include tacos, burritos, quesadillas and nachos.