A Caribbean restaurant will be allowed to sell alcohol from the former home of a once infamous Newcastle takeaway, after winning the support of councillors.
KK’s Caribbean Cuisine has secured a new licence from Newcastle City Council chiefs, after allaying fears that the move could spark a return of the problems endured by neighbours of the old Happy Chip. Local authority bosses had previously stripped the notorious takeaway, which was a well-known destination for legal highs and hotspot of anti-social behaviour, of its licence in 2014 following an investigation into claims a woman had collapsed outside the shop having bought a drug there which has subsequently been made illegal.
Residents in Waterloo Street had worried that they could be faced with a new nuisance after KK’s launched a bid to expand its licence so it could serve and deliver booze as late as 3am every night. But after applicant Kerryann Pitter agreed to a range of concessions designed to avoid any negative consequences, councillors have approved the plans.
Under the terms of the new licence, KK’s will only be allowed to serve alcohol to dine-in customers from 2pm until 10.30pm and can continue with food-only deliveries until 2am. The council’s licensing sub-committee said that the Happy Chip had “attracted serious complaints and adversely impacted the lives of local residents”, but that the site’s new operator had made changes to ensure it “operates with minimal impact on the local area”.
The committee added: “Taking into account the concessions offered by the Applicant including, in particular, the amendment of the application to seek on sales of alcohol only and the bringing forward of the terminal hour, the Sub-Committee found that the combination of the existing operation, conditions and hours offered provide exceptional circumstances. Further, the Sub-Committee was satisfied that variation of the licence, as amended and presented to the Sub-Committee, would not add to the negative cumulative impact on one or more of the licensing objectives.”
The panel also imposed conditions requiring KK’s to “endeavour to ensure” that the area outside of the premises is kept clean and that all delivery drivers must wait indoors while collecting orders after 11pm, rather than standing in the street. Ms Pitter said last week that her business “won’t be any form of nuisance”, adding: “I would not want to leave the premises to go somewhere else and then the next person to take over affects the community.”
Ahead of the hearing, objections lodged with the council by residents of the City Quadrant apartments opposite described the “horror of the Happy Chip years” which “utterly blighted the lives of those who live in what is a predominantly residential area”. One local warned that any connection with the closed takeaway “brings fear to the current residents who remember the noise, mess, and drug misuse into the late hours”.
Waterloo Street resident David Lydall told the committee hearing last Tuesday that the premises now occupied by KK’s had been a “constant issue” since he moved to the area and raised concerns about noise from patrons and delivery drivers causing disturbance after 11pm.
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