Neighbour scuppers bid to extend licensing until 3am

Council chiefs have turned down a Nepalese restaurant’s bid to extend its opening hours until 3am.

Gurkha Villa in Bank Street had applied to vary its licensing conditions, which were applied when the venue used to be run as a bar.

The licensing times allowed the restaurant to remain open until 4am on Fridays and Saturdays, but were more restrictive during the week.

Sukaa, which runs the restaurant, applied to change the times it could be open, serve alcohol, and play live music and films, until 3am every day.

But the 11am to 3am opening times plan met with an objection from Qiang Zheng, who lives in a flat above the property.

Father-of three Mr Zheng said: “The restaurant is disturbing my family to such an extent that it is affecting the quality and enjoyment of my home.

“We are very reasonable and tolerant and we fully under- stand the restaurant below is running a business.

“We don’t mind the music up until 11pm but if you were to extend to 3am this would be disastrous and would cause much stress to our young family.”

At a council l i censing sub-committee meeting on Tuesday, councillors rejected the application by Sukaa for the Gurkha Villa’s variation of hours.

A council spokesman said: “The application to vary their premises licence was rejected as invalid.

“This was due to a number of errors made by the application within their public notice.

“In order to pursue their variation, they will need to resubmit in full accordance with the Licensing Act.”

Gurkha Villa in Bank Street