Shimlas Harehills: Leeds Kashmiri restaurant gets permission to open until 2am on weekends

Shimlas, on Roundhay Road in Leeds, has provisionally been told it can serve until 2am on Friday and Saturday nights, and up to midnight the rest of the week.

However, the diner won’t be able to operate past 11pm yet, as it still needs to obtain planning permission from Leeds City Council to vary the hours.

But the licensing arm of the local authority gave the idea the green light following a hearing on Tuesday.

The diner opened earlier this year close to the busy junction which connects Roundhay Road and Harehills Lane.

Restaurant bosses had originally wanted to stay open until 3am, but later agreed to compromise and asked for a smaller extension following a local backlash.

The council’s environmental protection team and four local Labour councillors had objected to the extension, predominantly on noise disturbance grounds.

A petition carrying 32 signatures against the idea was also submitted.

Environmental health officers told the hearing that residents could be woken up by the slamming of car doors and the restaurant’s extraction fan.

Claire Simms said: “Overall we just feel the potential noise disturbance from the extra hours would be hard to deal with once the licence is granted.

“A reduction in hours would be the best way to mitigate against that.”

But Shimlas’ representative, Rashid Moghul, suggested officers’ claims were not based on evidence.

He insisted that a noise assessment carried out on the restaurant’s behalf had shown noise disturbance to the surrounding area would be minimal.

He said: “A lot of the issues the environmental team have raised are all perceived feelings about what might happen. I think it’s a little bit unfair.

“If there are any complaints, is the system that weak that they can’t be enforced? It just feels wrong to refuse extra time based on feelings.”

Asked why the restaurant wanted to stay open so late, Mr Moghul said: “There is still business at that time of the night.

“With the increase in energy costs and lockdown, which I know is an excuse that’s used over and over again, but it is still an issue, they need extra hours to stay viable and keep all their employees there.”