'I wasn't given a chance to make business work' says kebab house owner (From Oxford Mail)

'I wasn't given a chance to make business work' says kebab house owner

9:00am Wednesday 26th September 2012 in News

CITY kebab house Bodrum has closed its doors in Park End Street after attempts to get a later licence for the premises failed.

City councillor Saj Malik, right, who owns the business, claims he was never given a chance to make the venture work since it opened around a year ago.

He was granted planning permission to keep the fast food joint open until 1am, but wanted to extend the opening hours until 3am, to cater for people leaving clubs in the area.

He said: “What I don’t understand is they didn’t give me a chance. If there were problems, they could have just taken away my licence.

“The members of the committee didn’t seem to have their own thoughts on it, they just followed what the police said.

“I would have created 20 new jobs, because if I was open until 3am I would have had to have two shifts.”

He said his business partner planned to change the premises into a Turkish restaurant.

Last summer, planning permission was granted for Bodrum, which also has a takeaway in Cowley Road, but the opening hours were restricted to 1am.

In April, Mr Malik revived his bid to open later, but councillors voted to heed police advice and refused him authorisation to vary his planning permission. In their objection at the time, police described the area as a “hotspot” for crime and disorder, adding that extending Bodrum’s opening hours could have a “detrimental effect on community safety”.

Comments are closed on this article.