A Guildford fast-food restaurant has been told to “work with residents” and solve issues of public nuisance before increasing their opening hours.

Neighbours say they are “under siege” from noise and their homes “engulfed” by smells from Pepe’s Piri Piri, on Woodbridge Road outside the town centre. 

Guildford Council’s licensing committee refused the restaurant’s application to extend its food serving times from 11pm to 12pm every day of the week. Operating from 12 noon-11pm, the applicant wanted to extend the hours to close at midnight on Sunday to Thursday, and 1am on Fridays and Saturdays.

Cllr Keith Witham told the applicant that the refusal offered them a “chance to show you can work with the residents and resolve the issues”, then consider re-applying.

It comes after neighbours sent 18 letters objecting to the plans. Cllr Catherine Houston said she has “alarm bells ringing” as she has never seen that many complaints in her time on the committee.

The owner told the committee he had started to address the problem, but residents said they have not seen an improvement.

“Permanent residents have had enough of being under siege by the noise created by late night revellers,” said Lindsey, a neighbour.

One neighbour told the committee he was “pushed” to object to the application because of the noise workers would make closing the store from midnight to 1am and 2am. 

Others agreed at the committee that it would “disturb [their sleep]” for work and impact families in the area.

Another resident said they are “plagued with the smell of cooking” as soon as the shop opens, and can only open their windows between 11pm to midday.

Delivery bikes on the pavements were flagged as an issue, as one nearby shop-owner said many of his staff have almost been “run down”. Others complained there had been several “near-collisions” in the car park behind the restaurant because of cars parked on double yellow lines around a sharp corner.

“Walking my dog is a strain because of the litter,” said another local, Karthika. 

But the owner told the committee they had taken measures in the last fortnight to crack down on the issues residents raised. He said he has signposted that delivery drivers must park in the car park before they pick up food orders and has communicated this with his staff.

At the meeting, the owner said: “Before the application we didn’t realise the problems”. He said that in the last two weeks he has been strict with behaviour, told employees they cannot talk loudly after 10pm, can no longer take the rubbish out past 9pm and has undertaken measures to improve the parking.

Applicant Muhammed Malik said individual customers had said they would like the restaurant to be open longer. He argued that Pepe’s Piri Piri was a “healthy option” compared to other late-night fast-food options in the town centre. 

The proposal to extend the takeaway’s opening hours were rejected by the committee at its meeting on Thursday, July 18.