City centre kebab van loses bid to extend its late-night opening hours

A kebab van in Bath’s “night time hub” has lost a bid to extend its opening hours because a nearby upmarket hotel said it would disturb its guests.

The Abbey Hotel, as seen from the pitch of Jimmy’s Kebab | Photo © John Wimperis

Jimmy’s Kebab on Bog Island had wanted to extend its opening hours from 3am to 3.40am in order to catch more trade from people leaving the pubs and nightclubs in the area.

But its application has been refused after the Abbey Hotel, just 25 metres away, said that noise from its patrons was disturbing their guests.

It is the third time that kebab van owner Mehmet Yilmaz has tried to extend their hours but been refused permission by Bath & North East Somerset Council.

Representing him at a hearing before the council’s licensing subcommittee on 30th July 30, licensing consultant Bill Donne had insisted: “This is not going to lead to an increase in public nuisance.

“It’s a very busy area whether the van is there or not.”

He said that Bog Island was a “nighttime hub” for the city, with a number of late-opening pubs, bars, and nightclubs, such as Labyrinth, located around it, with people often staying around the area late at night waiting for taxis.

He said that the kebab van could help to reduce nuisance, as people tended to be quieter while eating and the area was covered by the van’s CCTV.

Mr Donne added that there had been no objections to the application from the police or from environmental health. On the one occasion licensing officers had attended the premises, they had found it was operating properly.

But Abbey Hotel general manager Kamal Rajendra said: “In our experience, the pitch acts as a magnet for people leaving neighbouring nightclubs.”

He said that the hotel had been forced to move 30-40 people from rooms at the front of the hotel to other rooms due to the noise, which they put down to Jimmy’s Kebab’s customers.

He said that the hotel had recently expanded and now more guests were affected by the noise. He said: “The longer that Jimmy’s Kebab is able to trade, the greater the impact is likely to be on our guests.”

The licensing subcommittee resolved to refuse Jimmy’s Kebab’s application to extend its hours due to the potential impact on neighbours.

Mr Donne said he was “disappointed” with the result.

He said: “The councillors gave too much weight to speculation rather than hard evidence.”

John Wimperis, Local Democracy Reporter