AN ASIAN restaurant in Ulverston has been given the green light by the council to stay open later and serve alcohol until midnight on Saturdays in a bid from the venue to tackle an increase in costs.

Members of the licensing sub-committee for Westmorland and Furness Council granted an extension of the opening hours, sales of alcohol and late-night refreshment on Saturdays for Wasabi on Cavendish Street despite objections from local residents.

The restaurant has been granted permission to extend its opening hours on Saturday so it can close at 12:30am instead of 11pm. The venue has also been given the go-ahead to sell alcohol and late-night refreshments until midnight on Saturday, an extension from 10:30pm.

Local resident Kevin Silver objected to the application due to concerns over noise and smoking outdoors.

He said: “It already can be quite noisy when people are coming and going."

“It’s a residential area and the proximity to people’s houses is I feel to close for the place to have a later license” he added.

Mr Silver said that people often spend time in the smoking area outside the restaurant during the evening and said: “the smell of cigarette fumes come into my property and for me that’s a public safety issue.”

The sub-committee placed conditions on the variation of the license for the restaurant to address the objections raised.

Conditions include the venue displaying “prominent clear and eligible notices” informing customers to leave the premises quietly and not to use the space at the front of the premises as a smoking area. The council also requested the restaurant installs CCTV for the front of the premises.

Wasabi director Charlotte Hargan said: “Businesses in general are struggling now and in particular hospitality, we’re seeing ever increasing costs of energy.

We’re very lucky in Ulverston to have so many wonderful independent businesses who not only contribute to the local economy but provide employment to many local residents.

“Sadly, we’re seeing more and more businesses closing their doors in the local vicinity due to a lack of footfall and ever-increasing costs, not to mention we’re in a cost of living crisis and people don’t have so much disposable income.”

Ms Hargan added the restaurant is regularly fully booked on Saturdays needed a slight change in operating hours to maximise turnover.

An application from the restaurant states: “We have noticed throughout the last year of operation that customers aren’t wanting earlier time slots, so we have found between 5-6pm we are not utilising the tables we have available and as a very small restaurant it is essential, we can fill the restaurant.

"However, we do fill the slots from 7pm onwards, however in order to turn the tables over twice we would need to allow the guests two hours on the table from their booking time, meaning realistically the last time we could seat a customer is 8:45pm to 9pm. So by extending the licensable hours slightly, it would allow us to accommodate more guests and balance out the increase of costs and lack of earlier bookings.”

Wasabi is a pan Asian restaurant offering food from across Asia alongside cocktails and drinks.

Ms Hargan also addressed the concerns of objectors and said: “It has never been our intention at Wasabi to disturb local residents.”

“We have respectful customers and I agree that people can get a bit louder when they’ve had a drink or they’re in a group, but we’ll always be respectful of local residents, and we will do everything we can to ensure that continues” she added.

Westmorland and Furness Council granted the application subject to conditions at Kendal Town Hall on Monday (October 30).