Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Cafe forced to shut after moan about bacon smell
ADORSET cafe owner has been forced to close after a neighbour complained their clothes smelt of bacon after drying on the line.
Emma Ayles’ Caddy Shack has been a big hit with customers and dog walkers in Weymouth but now eight people will lose their jobs as a result of a planning row over the cafe.
Since the closure, thousands of people have signed a petition urging planners to rethink their decision.
Ms Ayles said: “If they can close me down based on one neighbour’s complaints, it is beyond me. There are eight employees made redundant as a result. On Saturday afternoon I found out about the decision and we had to close down. We are trying to arrange if I can move elsewhere.”
Many have championed the cafe and called it an “asset to the community” but its future looks bleak and Emma has been left reeling after her appeal to keep trading was rejected by the Planning Inspectorate.
Based in a converted steel box container with fencing, Emma relocated Caddy Shack to the car park at Weymouth and Portland Rugby Club off Monmouth Avenue in March 2021 but neighbours were unhappy before she’d even poured her first latte.
“I needed a new space and Weymouth and Portland RFC approached me to move my cafe to their ground. They emailed the leaseholders Dorset Council for permission and said I could be there on a temporary basis.
“Before I opened, neighbours were complaining. I think they kept on to the council and they said I had to get planning permission. We put in an application to retain the change of use and it went to a decision in February 2023 and all was going well at that point.”
The application sought to retain the change of use from club parking to cafe area as well as the steel box container and fencing.
Ms Ayles said that while the application was well received, she was hit with criticism about having no toilets. She clarified that they had use of the club’s toilets, but this was not enough to appease Dorset Council’s South and Western Planning Committee in February.
She also faced an objection from one nearby resident, who claimed that they were unable to put out their washing due to the smells of the cafe.
He wrote: “This business overlooks our back garden directly. It is a busy cafe that creates problems with noise as well as parking issues as customers regularly park behind our back fence. It operates seven days a week.
“As well as the obvious problem of being overlooked there is also the problem of cooking smells and we are often unable to put our washing on the line due to it smelling of bacon.”
Supported by Weymouth and Portland RFC, Ms Ayles appealed to the Planning Inspectorate, with a case officer visiting the area on October 24.
The inspector wrote: “The seating area for the cafe is entirely outside and therefore there is no containment of noise created by patrons. As such, the site’s close proximity to residential properties gives rise to the high potential for harmful noise disturbance to occur.”
Ms Ayles said that to submit a new planning application takes around nine months and that she cannot run her business in the meantime.
She said: “Therefore I have no income and cannot trade. I am in limbo and unsure what to do.”