Proposed Tokyo-style Japanese restaurant on Briggate in Leeds gets alcohol licence

House of Fu, expected to open in Briggate next year, wanted permission to serve alcohol until midnight on Sunday to Thursday, and until 1am on Friday and Saturday.

But the panel agreed to only allow the premise to stay open until midnight for seven days a week.

It followed both the police and the council’s licensing department expressing concerns about the plans, as they fall within the city’s so-called “red-zone”, where restrictions are placed on issuing new licences due to the amount of alcohol-related crime.

A council report into the plans read that the ground floor would operate as a traditional restaurant, whilst the basement will “take inspiration” from a type of eatery commonly found in Tokyo known as an “Izikaya”.

The licence, will begin in September 2020.

A representative of the applicants told the committee that the operators already ran “a number of successful premises” in Leeds, including Headrow House, Water Lane Boathouse and Belgrave Music Hall.

He added that an amendment was made to the application to make sure alcohol could only be purchased with food, and that previous plans to add karaoke booths were scrapped.

He said: “Representations were received from the police and licensing, and they are quite rightly trying to protect the impact policy area.

“In the first plan there were originally three karaoke booths. That has since been turned into a private dining area.

“It stems back to the jazz cafes of Japan after World War II when vinyl was prohibitively expensive, so they pooled it all into one place and played them on the best sound system possible.

“This application will not add to the cumulative impact of that area. We hope it will have a positive effect on the area, as it’s not drink-led. The area is crying out for a good restaurant offer.

The so-called “red zone” stems from the council’s cumulative impact policy, which identifies areas in the city of high alcohol related crime and antisocial behaviour. Briggate is included in one of the so-called “red zones”, which require council licensing to reject new alcohol licence applications unless the applicant can demonstrate that it won’t add to the area’s current problems.

The police argued that they were not convinced that the restaurant would not add to the impact of the red zone.

Police licensing officer PC Kath Arkle said: “The operators are well known and well regarded, but their current premises are not in the red zone.

“Even with the amendments, we would argue that it would still contribute to the red zone area.”

She added that plans to have doormen working for one hour a night was ‘perculiar’.

She said: “There are potentially 120 extra people frequenting an already congested area which has been the top area for offences.

“[Lower Briggate] has not got better for a long time, putting 120 more people in that area is, in our opinion, not going to improve it.”

The council’s licensing department agreed that bringing more people into the area would not help reduce crime in the area.

A council licensing officer said: “It pains me to put this in, as I would like to visit this and I enjoy the other premises that the applicants run.

“But it is my job to uphold the licensing objectives, which I don’t believe this application can do.

“Cumulative impact is a good tool to stop things getting worse. Crime is still increasing, and now we have an application that will bring more people into the area.

“To me that would seem like a backwards step. The apps have an excellent track record, but they don’t have a premises in this area.”

The following no fewer than three adjournments for private discussions, panel members decided to grant the application with additional conditions.

Chair Coun Andrew Hutchinson said operating hours should be 11am-midnight every day, a minimum of one door supervisor from 11pm every Friday and Saturday.