Award-winning Sheffield restaurant applies to extend opening hours to help cope with Covid-19 impact
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Nonnas, on Ecclesall Road, with agents Brady Estates Limited have asked Sheffield Council for permission to stay open until 1am, with the bar closing at 12.30am, Friday and Saturday inclusive.
It applied for an extension to opening hours previously but was refused.
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Hide AdA statement with the application said coronavirus restrictions caused “untold challenges” for the operator and due to necessity its capacity was reduced by almost 50 percent to comply with social distancing.
It said: “If this revered and long established restaurant is to survive into the future, with the government only offering cold comfort on a likely return to normal trading, then a relaxation of planning opinion is justified and should be considered.
“Daily closures are being reported nationally because the new capacity levels will no longer support previously thriving businesses.
“The same planning attitude which has before prevailed and refused applications should now be tempered and waived in the interests of support, of providing encouragement and understanding of the restauranteurs’ plight.
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Hide Ad“We are not talking about a mass departure from planning principles here, we are talking about concessions within reasonable limits. We are talking about an expectancy of tangible co-operation from our own local authority to protect and nurture its own constituents in the midst of a worldwide, potentially re-occurring, problem.
“In this case a difference of only two hours will provide a basis for the operation to consolidate. As a result of the limit on customers it takes longer to serve the covers needed to retain a trading balance, to reinvent itself, to reverse the shortfall in the balance between revenue and overheads, to learn to function with over 50 percent fewer covers per week and, let us not forget, is due to no fault of their own.
“Established, well patronised businesses have been devastated in complying with new laws and World Health Organisation directives. They are vulnerable in the extreme and indeed it is reasonable to expect the same support and patience the public have been quick to offer local authorities should be reciprocated.”