Highly-rated Sunderland restaurant's licence plans approved - despite concerns over noise

Members of Sunderland City Council’s Licensing Sub-Committee voted in favour of the plans for The Scullery, in Silksworth Lane, this morning.

The decision means the venue, which was the fifth-best restaurant in the city at the beginning of the year, according to TripAdvisor, means it will be able to operate its Miners Meeting Room from 9am-midnight.

Opening hours will run until 12.30am, to allow customers time to leave after last orders, and there will also be the option of extending this at New Year, as many similar businesses are allowed to.

The ruling comes after the proposals were amended to reduce the opening hours initially applied for, following concerns raised over noise.

The applicants also agreed to conditions limiting the volume which can be heard from nearby homes, but they also claimed traffic on the street itself was a factor.

Co-owner Simon Tuckwell said: “I think the noise generated [from the street] exceeds what we have, you open the windows and it sounds like a high street.

“If it’s about having the right forum to engage with local residents we’re not the problem - we see ourselves as the solution.

“That pub could have been taken over by different people and had cheap beer and cheap spirits.”

Co-owner Hayley Scott added the new function room, which is expected to be used for events such as funerals and Christenings, as well as occasionally for overspill from the main restaurant, could create about 20 new jobs.

She also said the property has 18 CCTV cameras which she regularly uses to aid police with their investigations.

James Harrison, Local Democracy Reporting Service