As cool and exciting as this should be, I just cant seem to get excited for it.
Just look a the current food outlets and the less then ideal state they are in.
Pizza and Pasta has just one toilet, which is not the most discrete, and can not be nice for people sitting near there.
Woodcutters does not have any toilets, not ideal for families with young children.
Burger Kitchen food is nothing special
The Chicken Place does not do a vegetarian option
And TowersStreet, to say it was refurbished last year, the seating area and toilets were not even touched, and the toilets could do with replacing as soon as possible..
As nice as it is to get another place to have a sit down meal on park, it would be lovely if the issues with the current food outlets got resolved as well.
You have to assume that the new restaurant will have toilets as part of the plan, the next nearest toilets are going to be a bit of a trek otherwise, so some of the space you free up from removing the shop will not all be seating area, as it will be used for the kitchen and toilets, being realistic, I expect a smaller version of Food Loop at Europa Park. This already gets a long queue, so I expect this to be even longer at a Towers version, so I can see it been a frustrating experience for people who want to eat there.
As for the Air Shop building being ruined, if you look at the path approaching Air, you can see what is AIR written in a different colour bricks on the floor, and that was ruined when they extended the seating area for the Ripsaw Refresh outdoor area.
Hopefully, unlike the lodges, because my expectations are so low with anything Towers tries to do now, I will be in for a surprise when it opens next year, who knows, they might even theme each table to a different coaster at Alton Towers.
Ian