Mad Greek Chapel Allerton: Fuming takeaway owner in row with new Rudy's restaurant over shutters 'blocking' his business

Kostas Tsiknakis, owner of the Mad Greek on Stainbeck Lane, has complained to Leeds City Council to say that the new tenants of the building next door, Rudy’s, have erected rolling shutters around their pizza restaurant without acquiring the correct planning permission.

The council has now confirmed to the Yorkshire Evening Post that it is looking into a potential breach of the planning controls.

And a letter from the council, seen by the sister paper the Yorkshire Evening Post, states that the owners of the building occupied by Rudy’s have been told that “planning permission has not been granted for the changes”.

The shutters are “considered to be out of character” to the rest of the area, it added.

Rudy’s has declined to comment.

Mr Tsiknakis opened the Mad Greek in 2012 after running a stall selling olives in Kirkgate Market for 10 years prior to that.

He said that the previous restaurant next door, Casa Mia, had a glass frontage so people could see the Greek restaurant from across the road and from the public square by the junction between Stainbeck Lane and Harrogate Road.

However, he said that since Rudy’s opened and erected the shutters there has been a noticeable decline in custom.

Mr Tsiknakis said: "It used to be all open with windows. It looked really nice and you could see it from the square. The pubs would close at night and the people would come out and see me open and then come here. Now they can’t see me and my business has gone down. They [Rudy’s] were closed on Monday and you couldn’t see the shop at all.”

Mr Tsiknakis said that he was on holiday when Rudy’s set up the new restaurant before opening in July.

“I came back and I called the landlord and said ‘what’s going on?'," he said. "I don’t want to fight because they are my neighbours but at the end of the day we are a business and want to make a living.”

Mr Tsiknakis said that his landlord put a complaint into the council and received a letter from the planning department which confirmed that planning permission was not granted for the changes.

The letter reads: “A letter has been sent to the owners advising them that they should either provide documentary evidence that planning permission exists, or remove it and return the site to its previous condition.

"The property is set within a Conservation area with certain controls and the roller shutters are considered to be out of character with the area.”

The council added that Rudy’s could still submit a retrospective planning application, the outcome of which would be decided on through the usual routes.

The letter said: “If they choose to do neither, we may serve an enforcement notice as we consider that the development is causing sufficient harm in planning terms."

Mr Tsiknakis said that he has arranged to have a meeting with the owners of Rudy’s to discuss the matter.