Mixed News for High Road's Mystery Restaurant

Thumbs up from licensing department but council planners not convinced

299-303 Chiswick High Road has been refurbished. Picture: ChiswickW4.com

October 26, 2024

Plans to open an unidentified restaurant on Chiswick High Road have hit further complications in getting the necessary permissions to move forward.

The proposed venue at 299-301 Chiswick High Road has received approval for its earlier application to extend its licence to play live music to the ground floor.

However, an application (P/2024/2150) to the borough planning department for a change of use of the basement and ground floor level of the whole of the premises to a restaurant has been refused.

There is still no word on the type of cuisine which will be served at the new restaurant which would open in the units formerly occupied by Perfect Pizza and Republic Indian restaurant.

A late opening requires consent from both the planning and licensing departments and it is understood that the venue would have to cease all activity on the site after 11pm despite a late licence being granted by the borough Licensing Panel earlier this month.

Five residents living near the building and local Councillor Joanna Biddolph made representations against the licence due to concerns about potential noise disruption from an expanded venue that had the capacity for over 200 guests.

However, the Panel accepted assurances that the intention was not to open a night club and that the venue would operate mainly as a restaurant with most patrons having left before the licensed hours ended. Permission was given to extend regulated entertainment on the ground floor until midnight (Sunday to Thursday) and for a further two hours until 1am the following day on Friday and Saturday. This brought the hours in line with those already granted for the basement. The applicant Mr Shahid Hirji said that it was seeking the extension to the ground floor as the Council’s Building Control Team had told him there was a risk of disability discrimination if live music was only played in the basement.

A noise report was presented to the panel which it was claimed that even at very loud music levels of 93db and with bass heavy frequency there was minimal break out of noise outside the front of the premises when the doors were closed and the noise levels at the rear were measurable but not such that would impact local residents. The applicant said that he would be installing a noise curtain by the front door and improving the noise insulation to the rear fire door.

Mr Hirji pointed out the Packhorse Pub had later closing times and was bigger in terms of floor area than the premises had not cause any issues for local residents.

As a condition of the grant of the licence it was agreed that the noise level for the sound system could be set by the Council’s Environmental Health Team.

This approval by the licensing team came despite borough planners turning down an application the previous month for late opening due to an ‘insufficient noise assessment report’.

Another application (P/2024/3481) has now been submitted to the planning department which, rather than requesting a change of use, seeks to merge 299 and 301-303 Chiswick High Road as a single unit. 299 was the previous location of Perfect Pizza and 301-303 was the home of Republic Indian restaurant. It is proposed that the permission would be for a single premises which will primarily operate as a restaurant, with takeaway food being ancillary to the main business.

An updated noise assessment report and noise management plan has been submitted with this application.

The previous month Mr Hirji also submitted an application (P/2024/3016) for a change of use for the self-contain flat above the restaurant on the first floor into a Housing Multiple Occupation (HMO). The designs accompanying the application indicate that there would be two rooms with double beds and one with a single bed sharing a communal kitchen, dining area and bathroom. An application (P/2024/0094) for the erection of a roof extension across the second-floor roof of the main building to provide two additional self-contained flats, a part first floor extension to an existing flat and part ground floor rear extension to the commercial unit to the rear of the property was turned down this June.

The latest application states that construction work at the site has completed and the restaurant is ready to open with a floor space of around 366m2, covering both the ground floor and the basement.
Both buildings are owned by KSMV Properties Ltd which in turn is owned by Shahid and Shamin Hirji. They have owned 303 Chiswick High Road since 1986 buying 301 a few years later. Number 299 was acquired 5 years ago and, up until now, they have rented out the units.

In recent years, the premises have been rented out to third parties but previously Mr Hirji had operated the Ochre Lounge from 301-303 Chiswick High Road. It served both Lebanese and Indian food at various times but for now what type of cuisine the new restaurant will serve remains a mystery.