Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Owners of Proposed Triple Restaurant in former Fairline/Class A Premises Finally Come Clean

The owners of the almost complete new restaurant in the former Fairline/Class A premises have been pretending for the last year or so that their project was anything but a new restaurant. They even had their agent come on HoL to protest their innocence with regard to any such move.

Of course anyone with half a mind didn't believe them for a moment and they've now finally come clean and have applied for retrospective planning permission.

There are very sound grounds for objection to this development given in Haringey's planning policy and one hopes that the Council will make proper and fair use of these in making their planning determination.

Local objections, particularly those that can be linked to policy are taken into account and do make a difference. Any resident can object. I am attaching a copy of the LCSP's objection which makes clear which policies can be referenced for your objection.

If you'd like to object, or support, the application, you can do so via the planning pages of Haringey's website here, using the "Comment on Application" button towards the bottom of the page. (EDIT: I made a comment essentially just supporting the LCSP's statement in its entirety).

See the tag below for all other related posts.

Tags for Forum Posts: fairline

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Permalink Reply by Alice on November 2, 2017 at 15:58

Update: We should be back in by this evening! Hurrah!

Environmental Health have required the restaurant to change the extraction system and their processes regarding the grill. Hopefully the scrutiny this has raised on them will keep them in check until the planning enforcement kicks in.

Here's the email from the council for anyone interested:

Dear ******,

Further to my visit to the restaurant on Saturday night, I visited the restaurant on again today at 2pm - after the lunchtime busy period. I was equipped with a carbon monoxide detector and no carbon monoxide was detected. The restaurant confirmed that their engineer has made some adjustments to the extract system but I am waiting for a report from the ventilation engineer. I can verify that the system has had some alterations made.

On both my visits to the restaurant I discussed the controls that are required when using a charcoal grill. These include effective extract ventilation as the primary method. In addition the restaurant have been instructed to carry out the following controls:

1.      Minimise the mount of charcoal burring at any time – do not overstock the charcoal for convenience
2.      Ensure there is adequate ventilation allowing fresh air to enter the premises and replace the air extracted
3.      Reduce the amount of charcoal towards the end of service
4.      Spread out the coals and allow to burn an cool down with ventilation on – whilst closing down.
5.      Remove all embers and ash and place in stainless steel boxes outside at the end of the night. Staff to be trained and have suitable equipment and protective clothing (e.g. gloves)
6.      Ensure embers are cool – douse with water if necessary
7.      Leave the ventilation system running on low all night until the installation company have verified that the system is sufficient for the size of the charcoal grill and installed a commercial grade carbon monoxide detector.

I have received photographic evidence that the restaurant are now clearing charcoal at the end of service and an enforcement officer has carried out a spot check also.

I discussed possible causes for the elevated levels of CO in your flat with the restaurant owner. She is absolutely certain that hot charcoal is never left in the grill over night. However the she agreed that it is possible that the extract ventilation was turned off before clearing the charcoal had burned out. This practice can allow carbon monoxide fumes to permeate through brickwork and plasterwork. I have reiterated the danger of this practice.

The restaurant have assured me that I should receive the engineers written report and documentation to satisfy me that the system is adequate by tomorrow. If I don't receive this I will issue a statutory notice which may result in prosecution if they fail to comply.

I would recommend that the landlord carry's out a further carbon monoxide check at the flat before your return. The levels detected have been reducing and I would be concerned if the levels have increased again. If at any time the carbon monoxide detector alarms again you should call the fire brigade immediately, they can attend and check the levels within the flat and within the restaurant.

Kind regards

Rebecca Whitehouse
Commercial Environmental Health/Pollution/Trading Standards Manager Haringey Council

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Permalink Reply by Graham Charnock on November 2, 2017 at 16:22

Good news that you may be back in soon. Obviously the council has done all they can do under the circumstances within whatever remit they have. Only time will tell if that is enough. I am mildly amused that they say they visited the restaurant at a busy time, when I have never really seen it busy at any time, and I usually walk past it several times a day. Customers are obviously transients; I worry more about the staff who may be subject to continual carbon monoxide intake.

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Permalink Reply by Alice on November 7, 2017 at 12:50

Yes, they were served a prohibition notice on Sunday although not specifically for the monoxide leakage. This is only a temporary measure but at least allows a day or so rest-bite from going to sleep scared!

We were contacted by the council on Friday to let us know an inspector was being sent to perform a spot check and readings on the restaurant and flat.

They came at circa 1am and recorded low levels of CO but conceded that, as the restaurant wasn’t busy or cooking heavily, they would also like to perform checks the following evening. They returned on Saturday at circa midnight and took readings which were registering much higher. As a result they informed national grid who, adopting duty of care, also came to take readings at circa 2am. These readings registered a max of 12 within the flat and 26 in the restaurant below (the legal limit of their monitor being 30). As protocol National Grid disconnected their gas. Whilst the grill is not gas fired, they felt this would reduce the imminent risk and would prevent them from opening (due to lack of hot water), albeit temporarily.

The council then visited again on Sunday. Whilst the restaurant had already reconnected their gas and were serving, the council team were accompanied by a gas safe engineer in order to check that their re-connection was to standard. They found that this wasn’t the case- there was a small gas leak and as a result they shut their gas off again. This also enabled them to serve a prohibition notice stating the restaurant couldn’t serve due to health and safety (no hot water for cleaning etc). The restaurant was closed overnight and still this morning.

The prohibition notice is only temporary whilst the restaurant safely reconnect their gas and show evidence for this and we expressed our concerns to the council that we fear a similar pattern of events happening every weekend and pushed the advice from here to prioritise the case. Hopefully we will see come coordination with the other departments involved on the case (planning enforcement and building control) to see if the combined weight of issues prioritises this case (although there is no guarantee of this).
The next step for the council will be to gather all the relevant evidence to hopefully serve the restaurant with an improvement notice around the procedure for the grill, for which they would face prosecution if they don’t comply.