Controversial plans to open a new shisha bar in Newcastle’s West End have been thrown out by city planning bosses.
Proposals to turn the first floor of the Tyre City garage in Denton Burn into the Billions Lounge, which could have stayed open as late as 1am, were unanimously rejected by Newcastle City Council’s planning committee on Friday morning.
Councillors heard that the area is already plagued by “horrendous” parking problems and “very distressing” noise nuisance.
One resident objecting to the scheme told the committee that neighbours are already forced to endure “screaming women”, fighting, men urinating in a back alley, and vermin.
Benwell and Scotswood ward councillor Rob Higgins added that the cafe and shisha bar plan was in “quite simply the wrong location” and would deliver “no benefits to the local community”.
Coun Higgins said he feared that allowing the premises to open would increase the number of “predatory taxis” looking for passengers in the area.
The applicant, Billions Lounge Newcastle Limited, had offered to cut the site’s proposed opening hours so that it closed at midnight rather than 1am from Sunday to Thursday.
But the Labour councillor said that concession would do nothing to allay the concerns of neighbours, in an area with many young families and elderly residents.
In a bid to win the council’s backing, the developer also redesigned its plans so that the building could only be accessed off the West Road rather than Denton Road.
It said it was willing to accept a one-year temporary planning permission to prove “that the use can operate successfully without any adverse impact on residential amenity”.
They argued that the venue would be a “relaxed meeting area” for the area’s Middle Eastern, Kurdish, and Turkish population.
In a statement, the applicant said: “The proposals are associated with a proposed relatively quiet social facility. In addition, the proposals as detailed do not involve any serving of alcohol or hot food.
“The atmosphere of the social facility is associated with relaxation and relatively quiet social activity with only mellow music in the background.
"There would be no adverse activity which would normally be associated with the effects of alcohol and intensive social gatherings.”
However, council planning officials said that they “don’t have details” of how the redesigned facility would operate and that the new closing times were still “unacceptable”.
They added that the suggestion of taking a one-year temporary approval was not appropriate as it would result in a year of potential harm to residents.
Coin Felicity Mendelson, the committee’s vice chair, said it was a “clear cut” decision to knock back the plans.
