A CARDIFF man said plans to allow late night outdoor eating at a new restaurant next door to him would make his and his partner’s lives “hell”.
Plans to turn Wildflower Kitchen on Whitchurch Road into an Indian restaurant called Ginger and Clove have been approved by Cardiff Council.
Two residents living behind the premises laid out their concerns about the proposal to the local authority at a licensing sub committee meeting on Wednesday, October 8.
One resident who lives behind the restaurant with his wife said the noise was “bad enough” when it was a cafe and that he extended his garden fence to give them more privacy.
The owner of Ginger and Clove, Matthew Varghese, said he does not wish to be “at loggerheads” with residents in the area and that he has agreed to a number of conditions proposed by the police and pollution control experts.
One of these conditions is that the premises stops allowing people in its outdoor space after 9pm. However, in addition Mr Varghese offered to cease the use of the outdoor garden area from 8pm.
Neil Muscott, 74, said his main concern is the impact that noise could have on his epileptic partner.
“It would make our life hell,” said the Talygarn Street resident.
“When you live with someone who is epileptic, you are on a knife edge and the last thing we want [is something like this].
“It will affect [my partner’s] lifestyle a lot.”
Mr Varghese said the restaurant is on a busy road which creates a lot of noise already, but Mr Muscott, who has lived in his house for nearly 30 years, added: “You can’t compare Whitchurch Road to our garden.”
Another Talygarn Street resident, George Vince, said the distance of the back wall of the restaurant to the house behind it is about 40ft.
George, 70, said: “Even when Wildflower was open and they had a couple of people in the garden it was still noisy.
“The problem is, it is noise pollution and it is okay to say that they would be willing to close or not use the garden after 8pm… it would always be in the summer… [when] we would like to use our gardens.”
Both residents said they were not opposed to the restaurant itself, but just the plans to allow the use of its garden area until late.
Mr Vince added: “We have got very small back gardens. The restaurant… their garden isn’t very big, but it takes up five gardens.
“If the garden was open for eating and drinking, it would be a problem. It would affect our lives.”
Mr Varghese said he wants to work with residents around the business. He added: “We would like to run a business and run it well.
“I cannot have people not come in. I don’t mind lessening the hours, but I would like to give my customers an opportunity to sit outside if they want to.”
Mr Varghese said he hopes the new restaurant will open sometime this month.
