A Quayside restaurant boss promised not to turn his venue into a pub, as he pleaded with city authorities to relax its drinking restrictions.
Popular Italian eatery Prima Ristorante has run into conflict with police and council officials as it bids to remove curbs that stop it serving alcohol to customers without them ordering a meal too.
Restaurant owner Polat Akcicek told a Newcastle City Council hearing on Tuesday that his business needs a “bit more flexibility” to aid its recovery after a devastating two years during the Covid pandemic, but pledged that he was “not turning the business into a nightclub or a pub”.
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Mr Akcicek claimed it was “just not fair” that Northumbria Police, as well as the council’s licensing and environmental health chiefs, were opposing his efforts when many other Quayside venues have far less strict drinking rules and Prima “never caused any trouble”.
The restaurant, in The Side, has applied to amend the conditions of its licence so that it can serve customers booze without any food on its ground floor, while retaining the existing restaurant on the second floor and also hosting pre-booked parties on a newly-refurbished upper level.
Mr Akcicek insisted that patrons downstairs would all be sat at tables and order drinks via waiter service, but city authorities fear that there would be nothing to stop Prima then turning from a “sedate” restaurant into another bar in a part of the city centre that is already packed with late-night revellers.
Jonathan Bryce, the council’s licensing boss, told a hearing of the licensing sub-committee that the plans would “undoubtedly” lead to an increase in noise, crime and disorder on the Quayside.
Mr Bryce added that he understood Mr Akcicek’s intentions not to become a rowdy drinking spot, but said that promise is “not reflected in the application before us and there is the potential for the premises to diversify at a later point in time if the bar aspect is a resounding success”.
City centre police sergeant Julie Cottiss predicted that the venue would be “very difficult” to manage and there would be “nothing to prevent the ground floor being solely an alcohol-only part of the restaurant”, though police solicitor Hayley Hebb added that the opposition was “nothing personal” against Prima.
The restaurant owner replied: “I have never called the police to arrest anyone out of my business, I never affect the police. The police have never been to my business for any crime or drugs or anything wrong.
“Other people have all sorts of things and yet they are allowed to do this and we are not.
“I am taking it personally. I am sorry, but it is not fair – it is just not fair.”
The council will publish a decision on whether to allow the licence changes within five working days.
