A popular boat house café in a High Wycombe park is to be revamped by the council – and the current tenant is expected to stay amid concerns about a chain coffee shop taking over.

The boat house at The Rye – which is currently a green corrugated shed – could be replaced with a new modular building that would be constructed off-site and hoisted into place.

Wycombe District Council says it is currently in the pre-planning stages of the proposals – meaning no official planning application has been submitted yet.

If given the go-ahead, the new café – set to cost around £300,000 – will have indoor seating and a long-awaited fully-accessible public toilet.

The café itself will also have extended opening hours – and the all-important boat hire service will remain.

The plans were well-received by High Wycombe councillors on the town committee – who said the plans were “brilliant”.

Cllr Brian Pearce said: “The fear is that a Costa-type company would come in and make an offer he can’t refuse and it wouldn’t be the same. Is there any provision to stop a large chain from taking over and changing the whole character of the area?”

Cllr Alan Hill added: “It looks really smart. It’s nice to see that you will hopefully use the operator who is there now rather than one of these big places that cost a lot of money for your coffee.

“It goes to prove that they don’t really work – it didn’t work in Marlow and I don’t think it would work at The Rye either. I hope the gentleman there now can continue and I wish him every success.”

Addressing the concerns, Elaine Jewell, head of community, said: “The key difference is the requirement to do boat hire. We hope the current owner will be able to continue. The public toilet will be available without you having to purchase something from the café.”