Takeaway ‘not viable’ with restricted opening hours

A developer has claimed that “inhibiting” council restrictions on trading hours for a takeaway in a former bank building are making the project “financially unviable”.

Proposals to convert the empty Royal Bank of Scotland premises in Burnside Road in Dyce, Aberdeen, into two food outlets were passed last September. One was taken up by bakery chain Greggs while the other is intended for use as a hot food takeaway.

The property, in Farburn Industrial Estate, has lain empty since closures by the bank in 2018.

Sava Estates claims the current trading hours, from 7am-10pm, have already scared one potential tenant away. Its consultancy firm Bennett said: “The operating hours selected by the local authority are problematic. It is understood the previous owners sought unsuccessfully to attract a user for this unit but interested parties were disinclined to conclude terms, because of the restricted operating hours, which are not viable and which have resulted in the unit remaining vacant.

“The arbitrarily imposed hours of operation have effectively made the property unmarketable as a hot food takeaway.”

The firm is pushing for similar hours to other takeaways “virtually throughout the country”, which would be 10am-11pm Sunday-Thursday, and opening until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

Residents previously raised concerns about potential problems with noise, smell, litter and long hours of operation.

The former Royal Bank of Scotland premises in Dyce