Rudy's restaurant in Leeds removes shutters following row with neighbouring Greek restaurant

Rudy’s on Stainbeck Lane, in Chapel Allerton, has removed the shutters on either side of the front seating area after a formal complaint to Leeds City Council was lodged by the owner of the Mad Greek next door, Kostas Tsiknakis. Mr Tsiknakis said that he has already seen an improvement in business after the removal but is still calling on them to remove the two shutters at the front of the restaurant.

Mr Tsiknakis said that people can now see his Greek takeaway better from the main square and from the road, after he complained that when the rolling shutters were down you “couldn’t see the shop at all”.

Mr Tsiknakis said: “They’ve opened the window on my side. It’s a lot better. It’s made a difference. The shutters at the front shouldn’t be there though. I open earlier than them and close later so you still can’t see mine fully at times.”

He said that he has had conversations with those running the restaurant and been told that they will try and keep the shutters up but he is still arguing that they do not have planning permission.

The council previously confirmed to the Yorkshire Evening Post that it was looking into a potential breach of the planning controls in regards to the shutters.

And a letter from the council, seen by the YEP, states that Rudy’s were told that “planning permission has not been granted for the changes” and that they must “either provide documentary evidence that planning permission exists, or remove it and return the site to its previous condition”.

It added that the shutters are “considered to be out of character” to what is a Conservation Area. 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.

Rudy’s has declined to comment.