Despite a planning application that suggested otherwise, the owner of Carisbrooke’s ADA Mezze restaurant says he intends to keep the popular eatery running.
In an application submitted to the Isle of Wight Council at the end of November, documents said running the business in the current Covid pandemic climate is ‘uneconomic’ and the owners were looking to turn the restaurant into a two-bedroom flat.
Since the application went live, however, owner Ali Demir, has said there is no intention to close the restaurant in the near future,
He said the permission, if granted,would be something to be kept in their back pocket, as a selling point to interested parties looking at buying the freehold of the building.
Having to close through both of the national lockdowns but offering delivery and take away services, Mr Demir said it has been a ‘very, very hard’ year for the business and it was difficult to survive, taking a cut on the staff, but they have tried their best to go through.
He said:
“I think we have made it, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel but the reason we are asking for planning permission is we do not know where we are going with Covid. The government could turn around and say we have another lockdown.
“If this is the way it is going to go in 2021, we might say this is what we have got in our pocket, let’s just use it.
“We might be closing in the next few months or the next few years but we have no intention now. We will let people know though if that happens.”
The building also has two flats above the ground floor restaurant.
If planning permission is granted, a condition is normally inserted by planning authorities for work to have started within a set timeframe or permission expires. On the Island, it is usually three years since the application is approved.
To view the proposals or comment on the application, you can visit the council’s planning portal searching 20/02041/FUL. Comments on the application will be accepted until January 13, 2021.
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