Jinnah, Bradford: Indian restaurant allowed to keep marquee despite fears it will harm historic Little Germany district

The large marquee next to Jinnah, off Leeds Road, was installed during the Covid pandemic – with the business saying it would allow customers to remain socially distant.

Bradford Council had approved the marquee on a temporary basis – on the condition it was removed by October 2023.

But as that date drew closer, the business submitted a new application to retain the marquee until the end of 2025.

The Council has now approved this extension, saying that although it harms the Little Germany Conservation area, the benefits of the scheme outweigh the negatives.

The new application said: “As Jinnah Restaurant are one of the founding partners of Bradford 2025, this temporary marquee would not only have a positive impact to the restaurant but also to the wider region and assist the city with Bradford 2025.

“The Marquee has contributed positively towards to 2025 bid by hosting a number of events for local community.”

Bradford Council has now approved the extension to the time limit – but the marquee will need to be taken down as the City of Culture year wraps up on December 31 2025.

Planning officers said: “This approval and condition only granted planning permission on a temporary basis in the view of the nature of the building, in the interests of longer term visual amenity, the setting of the Little Germany Conservation Area and the setting of nearby Listed Buildings.

“It is noted that the previously granted temporary permission has now lapsed with the date of the temporary permission expiring October 19 2023 with the marquee still in-situ.

“The structures are regarded as causing a degree of harm to the settings of the listed building and of the conservation area. It needs to be considered what public benefits these structures provide and if that is sufficient to offset the visual harm.

“The permission sought will enable the marquee to be situated on the site for another two years, with the applicant willing to invest in the development of the site in order to positively enhance the local and wider area.

“Although the marquee/structure is deemed to be detrimental to visual amenity as it is not to form a permanent structure the harm will be short lived as it will be in-situ on (another) temporary bases until 2025 and the public benefits that it provides, in this instance, outweighs the visual amenity harm caused.”