‘noise nuisance’ fears block city restaurant’s late opening

A Hereford takeaway owner has lost his battle to stay open into the early morning.

Offering shawarma, or thinly sliced spit-roasted meat, as well as pizzas, burgers and chips, The Grill opened in late 2023 in Commercial Road in what had previously been a newsagent. Besides a takeaway service if offers outdoor customer seating to the rear.

Conditional on the change of premises use was a limit on its opening hours to 11pm.

Owner Samman Rassul then applied to have this extended to 4am on Fridays and Saturdays, to 2am on Sundays and to 1am on other nights.

When Herefordshire Council refused this on grounds of likely noise nuisance to neighbours, he appealed against their decision to the government’s Planning Inspectorate.

Now planning inspector N Robinson has backed the council’s refusal and dismissed his appeal.

Mr Rassul’s proposal was not supported by a noise assessment of the effects of the extended hours of opening, though noise from a kitchen extraction flue and from customers’ conversations “would be readily audible from inside nearby properties, of detriment to (their) living conditions”, the inspector judged.

The bid was supported by several letters of support, some pointing to other late-opening takeaways, restaurants and pubs nearby.

But the inspector said: “Each case must be considered on its own merits, and the fact that potentially harmful situations may exist elsewhere is not a reason to allow development which would cause harm.”

A separate bid by Mr Rassul to retrospectively permit an illuminated sign at the restaurant was refused in August on grounds that its appearance would “cause harm” to the city’s central conservation area in which the restaurant lies.