A restaurant has been granted permission to open until 3am seven days of week despite objections from a Sheffield city centre residents association.
The proposal by Chong Qing Chinese restaurant to extend their hours to accommodate students who enjoy late night snacks was considered by Sheffield City council’s licensing sub-committee on 23 April.
The proposal had two objections from the Local Resident Association, Changing Sheffield and from a local resident.
Changing Sheffield is the residents’ association for 27,000 people now living in the City Centre.The organisation has been representing the interests of people who have lived in the city centre since 2012.
Peter Sephton, Chair of Changing Sheffield said: “Over the last few years there has been a significant increase in noise nuisance from bars, restaurants, takeaways, including student nights on a Wednesday.
“We see this seemingly innocuous application as a Trojan horse with major implications for resident areas in the city centre. We believe it deserves some protection from unwarranted disturbances for applications of late night openings in residential areas.”
Glossop Road Baths building, opposite Chong Qing, is residential with 21 apartments, as is the Sinclair building nearby and on the opposite side of Glossop Road there are Victoria Street and Gell Street, which are entirely residential.
Mr Sephton said: “It is the first attempt to break out of the west street night time economy and extend it into Glossop road, which will probably lead to more applications until the premises are taken up all the way to the ring road.“
He added: “There will inevitably be destruction and public nuisance to the lives of people nearby.”
Mark Booth, a resident of West One which is located near Chong Qing restaurant, said: “We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore.”
The current licence permits the playing of recorded music from 11am to 12:30am, 7 days a week and late night refreshment from 11am to 12am Mon-Sat and until 11.30pm on Sundays.
The application to extend these hours to 3am, 7 days a week was granted by Sheffield City Council and the committee did not impose any further conditions on the licence.
