A BARNARD Castle restaurant has won a months-long battle to secure a licence for an upstairs cocktail lounge it is developing.
The owners of Babul’s, formerly known as Spice Island, in Market Place, applied for a premises licence earlier this year but faced objections from neighbours and a Durham County Council environmental health officer.
Initial plans were to construct a stairwell to the cocktail lounge in a shared access yard next to the restaurant but the officer said this would create noise nuisance for neighbours.
The county’s licensing committee heard during a meeting on Thursday, September 5, that environmental health officer Mark Anslow had withdrawn his objection after plans were revised to remove the external stairwell.
However, licensing officer Yvonne Raine told the committee other objectors had made known they wish to continue their protests because of the potential for a noise nuisance and anti-social behaviour.
She noted that Barnard Castle Town Council supported the licence application.
Addressing the committee Shuhel Ahmed, of Babul’s, said: “We are not going to be a night club – we are going to be a restaurant with a cocktail lounge on the first floor.
“The background music that will be played will be calm and collected and not blaring music.
“The kind of clientele we are expecting won’t be the type of clientele that will be causing problems in the early hours of the morning because we won’t be open in the early hours of the morning.”
The licence application states the business open from 7am to midnight every day of the week, except Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve when it will remain open until 2am the next morning.
Mr Ahmed said: “We have been working with all parties, including our neighbours. That is why we made the initial changes. We consulted with the council. We consulted our neighbours. It wasn’t the right way, so we changed it.
“That is why we have taken the external staircase out and we have reduced certain hours. We have understood what the voice of Barnard Castle is.”
He added that Spice Island had operated with a licence in the town for the past 25 years and in that time there had been no problems.
He said that over the years the business had become an integral part of the town and had supported events, such as the annual Meet parade, and sports teams through sponsorships.
He concluded: “We want to provide the best business we can for Barnard Castle.”
None of those who had submitted objections attended the hearing.
The committee agreed to award the licence for the sale of alcohol, recorded music and the provision of late night refreshment, subject to the conditions recommended by Durham Police.
