Business premises change of use

[Martyn Green]

Hi..I own a retail shop in a residential village..I want to turn shop into a cafe/bar and have submitted and received approval subject to customers leaving premises by 8pm mon to sat and 6pm Sunday for noise reasons.. but if I just open it as a cafe via permitted dev rights I believe I would have unrestricted opening hours..surely I could be a cafe serving alcohol all day until 11pm with the alcohol licencing committee being the ones restricting hours due to alcohol..hope this makes sense...do I try and vary the hours condition or ignore it and stay in class E as a cafe but apply to serve alcohol till ,say,11pm..this seems a grey area...

Thanks

[Ian Walmsley]

You do not need planning to go from a shop to a café as both are Use Class E, unless there was originally a restriction on the planning for the shop. 

There wouldn't be any conditions then. 

Licencing is separate and may restrict hours etc. for alcohol.




 

[Martyn Green]

Yes...but...the planning authority have restricted my opening hours to 8pm each evening because I want to be a cafe BAR...surely the alcohol licencing team will not approve any hours beyond 8pm if the planning authority have already put their restriction in place??

[Ian Walmsley]

This is still Use Class E if it is a café that serves alcohol in addition to the food etc. 

Unfortunately whoever said that you required planning was incorrect. 

The hours are only limited if you use the planning permission granted. However I have to agree that the Licencing folks may limit you now if they see the planning permission. 

The only reason why it might have needed planning is if it was actually use class F2 as a local shop with nothing similar within 1km