FARNHAM'S most familiar street scene, the foot of Castle Street, with its long-established fruit and veg stall, could soon be presenting a new face, following a change in the stall's ownership. The Martin family, three generations of which have run the greengrocery enterprise started by cockney character Annie Martin in the 1940s, have sold the business to a Farnham- based developer for an undisclosed sum. The purchaser, Flavia Estates, is continuing to operate the stall through former Martins' employee Paul Dyke. This week, however, the new owner was due to submit a planning application to Waverley Council to develop the site with three Georgian-style orangerie buildings to house the fruit and veg stall and four smaller retail operations. "I have been trying to buy the site for the past five years and one of my objectives is to provide some tidying up of the site and a broader range of little retail units," Terence Lyons, Flavia's managing director, told The Herald. "The top end of the site, dominated by the back end of a lorry, is uncomfortably untidy, given the importance of Castle Street in the conservation area." Mr Lyons sees the blank face that the stall presents to the Castle Street pavement as a shame and a lost opportunity and believes he can transform it into "a much more vibrant, lively, area". "There is not a more prime spot in the town. It is a fantastic opportunity to provide something here that will look attractive and be of interest." The orangeries, glazed on three sides, have been chosen because they will be light, airy and see-through from one side to the other. Illuminated at night, Mr Lyons believes they will both look attractive and add to the security of the area. The stall stands on the site occupied by the 16th century Old Market House until its demolition in 1866. Mr Lyons, through his former company, was responsible for developing the enclosed main square at Camberley. Through Flavia, he has been much involved with listed buildings and conservation areas, in Odiham in particular. He said he was attracted by the unusual opportunity presented by the freehold plot in Castle Street, sandwiched between the road and the highway authority-owned pavement. The Martin family, as tenants, purchased the freehold in 2000 after their landlords, The Farnham Town Hall and Market Company, went into receivership and the developer has kept up "a friendly dialogue" over his desire to purchase it since that time. He sees the greengrocer's stall as an essential, historical element, providing colour in the corner unit of his scheme, but serving customers standing on the pavement rather than at the roadside as at present. Each of the other two orangeries would be split into two, with the larger section of each housing a stall with a walk-in kiosk accessed from the pavement. The two smaller stalls, which customers would access from the two-and-a-half metre space between the orangerie buildings, would be let on a weekly basis to arts and crafts people selling jewellery, pots and other wares. "I particularly want to get a high turnover of users for these, so there is always something bright and different going on," said Mr Lyons. "These would be for people who can't hope to operate six days a week, 52 weeks a year. I think it would be good for the street scene to have small, constantly changing stalls." The response to the scheme from Waverley planning officers has been encouraging, the developer added. Farnham Town Council and the Castle Street Residents' Association had also been approached. "The general concensus is very supportive."