A GIANT ice cream cone will be built into the side of a cinema and block of flats set to replace the iconic Marine Ices restaurant in Chalk Farm, in tribute to the site’s long history of producing traditional Italian gelato. 

The brickwork mural has been included as part of plans to demolish the former ice cream factory – which operated for 82 years – and replace it with a five-storey complex, including 19 new homes, a restaurant and cinema. It will have three screens, one on the ground floor and two in the basement.

Dante Mansi, whose grandfather Gaetano opened his first ice cream parlour at the bottom of Haverstock Hill in 1931, gave a ringing endorsement of the mural this week.

“It’s a great idea,” he said. “I fully approve and I’m actually very proud of it. It marks it as an important site for the whole of north London.”

Detailed proposals for the site, sold by the Mansi family in 2012, were filed at the Town Hall last week. 

They include the first images of the three-storey mural designed to resemble the neon cone that illuminated the side of the famous restaurant. 

Mr Mansi, who moved to Devon after the family sold the business, said: “My grandfather set it up in 1931 and we were there right up until two years ago. I’m very grateful for the fact that people recognise that legacy.”

Paul Myatt, managing director of Myatt, which now runs Marine Ices’ new store a few doors down in Chalk Farm Road, said it was “an excellent idea”.

 “The developers are very conscious of the history of Camden and it’s important in this day and age as everything just seems to come and go,” he said.

His firm is in talks to supply ice cream to the cinema and restaurant, which will open on the site if planning permission is granted later this year. 

International development firm London and Regional Properties bought the site from the Mansi family after they stopped making ice cream there in 2012.  Another Italian family business, Ponti’s, ran the restaurant until it closed in August last year. 

Architects 21st Architecture used brick detailing in the ice cream cone shape following advice from ward councillor Alison Kelly, and in response to public opinion.

The building was taken over by squatters last month. 

About 20 people, most of whom said they were working or studying, have been living in the former factory. 

They said they had been sleeping there for the best part of a month, as they were unable to afford soaring rental prices. 

None of those at the building when it was visited by the New Journal this week were prepared to be named, but one said: “I’m a student. I can’t work full time while I’m studying and I can’t afford to rent. The other option is to live on the street.”

Members of the public can comment on the proposals until March 16.