Upper Ormeau residents are celebrating victory after a knife edge vote by Belfast City Council rejected an application to extend licensing hours from 11pm to 1am from a group planning to transform a Catholic Church into a boutique hotel.
A council planning report states: “This was based on the tight residential context and that the primary use was a hotel and restaurant and therefore, a restaurant closing at 11pm is typical. “Having had regard to the expert advice of Environmental Health it is recommended that the condition be varied to allow the following opening times: 1am for Friday and Saturday nights, midnight for Sunday night, and the remaining nights retained at 11pm.
SDLP Councillor for Botanic, Gary McKeown, told the committee: “The applicant may want to maximise the operating hours of the proposed business at this site, but this isn’t a consideration for this committee, and the issues in the round were considered extensively in 2019 when the overall planning permission was granted.
Local resident Martin Morgan told the committee: “This site is entirely surrounded by private housing. The committee reached the right decision in November 2019 when it accepted the protection of residents against adverse noise impact, and accepted that the bar should close at 11pm.” He said “nothing significant had changed.”
L
Intriguing that there is a 'hotel', or 'hostel' right across the road that has a licence til 1am at the weekends, but it makes no noise because there's rarely a crowd in it anymore for various reasons. The Ormeau pub scene has been dying on its feet due to price and unsavouries.
While disguised as residents, we all know local businesses were scared of the competition, as well as a local councillor having vested interest in this application.
'The Ormeau Road is not Madrid'
Pathetic