Plans for a cafe at a “boutique high-end gym” in Bath to start serving alcohol have prompted fears from neighbours that it will “spoil this lovely street”.
FLY Fitness is a gym on Bath Street, in the centre of the city, with a cafe outdoors seating up to 72 customers, served from a mobile truck.
Seats are located under the colonnade on Bath Street, out in the street itself, and around the corner down Bilbury Lane.
Now it is seeking a licence from the council to serve alcohol to its customers from 9am until 10pm. But people who live on the street have urged the council to refuse the plans.
Despite its city centre location, Stephen Crooke said it was “for the most part a quiet residential street”.
Writing a letter of objection to the alcohol licence application, he said: “The thoroughfare is particularly quiet with virtually zero tourists present after 17.00hrs.”
He added: “The sale of alcohol, particularly during the evening hours of Friday, Saturday and Sunday, would be totally inappropriate for the street — especially as, with the slightest sign of rain, large groups of potentially drunken stag and hen groups and rugby supporters will vacate their tables and gather under the colonnades.”
He and other objectors also warned that drinkers could pose a nuisance and increase the risk of crime at the cash machines across the street.
Also submitting a letter of objection, Ann Crooke warned that it could put off the film industry, for whom the street has been a popular filming location, in their productions.
She said: “This proposal will not encourage them to use Bath Street in their productions. It will also spoil this lovely street by having a bar in its midst.”
She added: “We will have intoxicated people hanging around our property at all hours. We will also have loud music from buskers playing late into the evening and rubbish strewn everywhere. This is not fair!”
FLY Fitness’ application insisted: “There will be no additional noise created. We are a fully operating mobile café and gym business. The addition of alcohol to our offering will only be an adjunct to our current offering. Noise levels, opening hours and our current business will remain the same.”
The plans will go for a hearing before Bath and North East Somerset Council’s licensing committee on 27th June. The committee meets at 10am in the council chamber in Bath’s Guildhall.
John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporter
