Council bars Preston restaurant from opening until 4am

Owners of the Steakhouse Saloon in New Hall Lane applied to the council saying the business was being restricted due to its 11:30pm closing time set by planning chiefs when it first opened seven years ago.

But officers, who only last year granted an application for a house in multiple occupation (HMO) on the two floors above the diner, have ruled out late night opening, saying the noise could affect people living close by.

The restaurant, on the ground floor of what was the old Birley Arms pub, was given planning permission in 2015. At the time the owner only asked for 11:30pm closing.

READ MORE: Bedsit plans for former Preston alehouse with tragic past

Now, seven years on, the Steakhouse Saloon wants to extend that to 2am every night, apart from Saturday when the grill style eatery would like a 4am closing time.

In the application to the council the proprietor says the venue is planning to introduce deliveries and takeaways. And it wants to be able to accommodate weddings and christenings for which it says there is a high demand.

"We cannot accommodate due to short opening time," says the application. "When we had such events we had to apply for temporary event notices every time. There has never been any issues with local residents."

But in refusing the application, council officers say it would not be fair on residents living nearby who could be disturbed by noise from the premises and as diners arrive and leave.

A senior environmental health officer said a late night extension would "adversely impact the residential amenity of the occupiers both above the restaurant/function space and those in the neighbouring area by reason of noise arising from the operation of the business and disturbance from the comings and goings of customers."

The plans for an HMO were only passed in January last year. So far the scheme has not been implemented and one letter received by the council said it was a "speculative application and there exists no real intention to bring the development forward."

However planning officers say that while the planning permission remains in place the HMO must remain "a material consideration in the determination of this application."

The former pub, which dates back to the 1850s, has a tragic past. In November 1885 the badly burned body of the landlord's 12-year-old daughter was discovered in an upstairs room after fire engulfed the building.

Four other people were seriously injured, including a piano player who was staying there and was crippled when he leapt out of the top floor to escape the flames.

And the pub was at the centre of another fatal incident almost 40 years later when a coach party from the Birley Arms crashed on a day trip to Cumbria, killing one passenger and injuring 12 others, including the landlord and his wife.

It closed down as a pub in 2007 and became a solicitors’ office before the Steakhouse Saloon opened in 2015.