A COWLEY Road restaurant is set to stay open longer after councillors approved an application.

The Heat African restaurant applied to Oxford City Council to vary its premises licence, which will see the selling of alcohol between midday and midnight from Sunday to Thursday, and from midday until 1.15am on Friday and Saturday.

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Outlining the application, restaurant founder Mohammed Halilu said: “There are no African restaurants or bars in Oxford which means that African culture and entertainment is not yet properly represented in a city that has the third highest ethnic minority population in south east England.

“Heat African restaurant has a history of successful and lawful trading without incident which would indicate that there is no reason to believe that a limited extension to our operating hours would have an adverse impact on either the licensing objectives or the wider community.

“A limited extension to our licensable activity hours would give us parity with other non-African venues in the vicinity and allow us to celebrate and embrace diversity.

“This application will allow us to continue to provide a venue in which patrons of African origin and patrons wishing to experience African culture may meet and to positively promote inclusive behaviour with residents and those using the services in the community.”

The city council’s licensing and gambling acts casework sub-committee approved the licence change.

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This story was written by Liam Rice, he joined the team in 2019 as a multimedia reporter.

Liam covers politics, travel and transport. He occasionally covers Oxford United.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Liam.rice@newsquest.co.uk

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