Stafford chicken restaurant allowed to open until midnight
A Stafford chicken restaurant can now stay open later to help meet demand from customers wanting takeaways.
Pepe’s Piri Piri, in Stone Road, was previously required to close at 11pm due to a planning condition imposed when the restaurant received planning permission earlier this year.
A request was later made to Stafford Borough Council to allow the eatery to open until 1am on Fridays and Saturdays and 12am during the rest of the week.
On Monday the authority’s licensing sub-committee granted a late night refreshment licence and agreed for Pepe’s Piri Piri to introduce a 12am closing time seven days a week.
The application met with concerns from the council’s planning and environmental health departments, however, because the restaurant is located in a residential area. Environmental health officer Gillian McMullin said: “We have had a complaint about roller shutter doors coming down.
“There is going to be an impact on residents nearby. With limited outdoor space, there is likely to be people congregating at the front of the property waiting for their food and after their purchases, as well as vehicle noise and delivery drivers.”
Dean Haynes, who spoke on behalf of the applicant at Monday’s hearing, said there had been just one complaint about noise, however, and it had not come from the neighbouring homes.
He added: “Pepe’s is based on a very busy main road – there is going to be an element of traffic noise in the area.
“The restaurant market is the most challenging market in the UK and has been hit by Covid. The delivery market has increased to 75% to 80% of orders with services like Just Eat.
“That’s the reason Pepe’s want to continue trading for two extra hours at the weekend – to compete in the takeaway market. People no longer want to come out for food, they want to eat in the comfort of their own homes.”
The meeting was told that the flat above the restaurant was not lived in, but used for storage instead. There was no alcohol sold in the restaurant due to religious beliefs and the premises was covered by CCTV.
Councillor Ann Edgeller, who chaired Monday’s hearing, said: “The decision is the premises licence is granted until midnight each day. The committee felt there was a need to balance the desire for growth of the commercial premises against the need to ensure late night opening does not impact on neighbouring properties.”
