Restaurant gets frosty reception from potential new neighbours

A FIERCE protest has been launched over plans to open a restaurant in former supermarket premises at one of Sheffield’s landmark residential developments.

The West One development is on the edge of Sheffield’s Devonshire Green in the Devonshire Quarter. It was completed in 2005 and was immediately popular with buyers and investors.

But recently some residents have started to complain about the noise from West One Plaza, a square around which the flats were built which is already home to several bars.

Now, they have objected to an application from a national restaurant company to move into the square, claiming that the noise from existing businesses is already “intolerable”.

One of the main issues with the scheme is that it includes an outdoor seating area, which people living in the flats above claim will add to the noise problems they currently suffer with.

The business behind the application is The Restaurant Group, which operates 354 restaurants and bars including well-known brands such as Frankie and Benny’s, Chiquitos and Garfunkels.

It made an initial application last October, and was asked to rethink the outdoor seating area. The firm has now submitted a fresh application with an acoustic report claiming noise will be minimised.

If approved, the unit will be turned into a Motown-themed restaurant called The Filling Station, a brand which the company currently operates from eight sites in Scottish cities.

According to council figures, there are 13 retail units at West One, with seven of the 13 currently occupied by restaurants and bars – equivalent to 70 per cent of the total floor area.

But residents say the initial planning permission stated that just 33 per cent should be in food and drink use to keep noise levels down and to ensure the development provided shopping facilities.

Local councillor Jillian Creasy has written to planners urging them to reject the proposals, but people who already run business in the Plaza have supported The Restaurant Group’s plans.

In papers relating to the application, one objector says: “The occupants of apartments overlooking the Plaza are directly affected by noise and disturbance from patrons of the bars and restaurants.

“This takes place from early evening until the early hours of the morning. Noise levels are excessive, particularly at weekends. Another bar and restaurant unit will only add to the noise nuisance and disturbance.

“The original planning consent stated that two-thirds of the outlets should be in retail rather than food and drink use in order to encourage daytime use and benefit the residents of West One.

“The unit should remain in retail use, preferably a supermarket, to enhance the facilities of those who live and work in the vicinity and maintain variety in local employment prospects.”

People who run and manage other units in the West One Plaza have called on Sheffield Council to allow the unit to be converted into a restaurant, saying it has been empty for almost two years.

However, planning officers are set to tell planners that a further restaurant in the Plaza in unacceptable for several reasons, and will recommend that the application is thrown out at a meeting on Monday.

In a report, they say: “West One was conceived as a largely residential, mixed-use development, with a shopping precinct, known as The Plaza at the northern end of the site.

“It is considered that the cumulative impact of another large restaurant would threaten the residential character of the area and have a harmful impact on the amenities of residents.”