COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

A family-run Greek restaurant in Coventry is at the centre of a row with residents involving accusations of threats and intimidation and even fireworks being launched at homes.



The owners of Zorbaz Greek Restaurant in Radford have applied to Coventry City Council to extend their licence.

But their plan has been met with angry opposition from neighbours who have submitted a petition claiming they have been intimidated and even assaulted when they have asked for the volume to be reduced.

Residents also claim threatening gestures have been made and say fireworks were launched from the restaurant towards their homes on New Year’s Eve in 2011.

Applicant Eat Greek Ltd wants to serve alcohol and play music in the Radford Road premises for longer, and have requested permission to open Monday to Saturday from 5pm-2am, provide live music from 11am-1am Monday to Sunday and serve alcohol from 11am-1.30am Monday to Sunday.

Residents say the restaurant has already breached its existing licensing conditions, which only allow live music on Thursdays and Fridays from 7pm-midnight and the serving of alcohol from 10am-11pm Monday to Saturday and noon-12.30am on Sundays.

A total of 26 people have signed the petition citing a range of issues, including the playing of loud traditional and disco music, the gathering of loud crowds outside the restaurant atanti-social hours and problems with parking.

The petition organiser wrote: “Any extension to the current licences we feel would only exacerbate the problems.

“We feel given that they have not stuck to their current hours for both alcohol and musical entertainment that the application will only allow them to stretch these hours and therefore associated nuisance even further.”

Another resident wrote: “Quality of life is already threatened and often damaged whilst living on the Radford Road where a pub and a restaurant show no consideration for residents.”

Zorbaz owner Samantha Kousoula has refuted the claims of residents and says she has asked council officers to remove the allegations from the objections, arguing that there is no evidence to substantiate their claims.

She said: “All the claims are complete fabrication and are due to a personal vendetta by one resident who’s been harassing me since we took on the licence eight years ago.

“He’s been scaremongering other residents. We applied for the licence variation to give us options. We won’t be playing music every night until 1am.”

The licensing meeting will be held on Thursday.

A Greek restaurant has got the thumbs up for late live music and alcohol sales seven days a week.



Zorbaz Greek Restaurant in Radford has won permission from the council to stage live music and dance and to serve alcohol for longer Monday to Sunday.

It came as a huge relief for owner Samantha Kousoula who told the licensing hearing she had been made ill by claims made in an objection letter in which a resident accused her management of threatening and intimidating behaviour and even launching fireworks at residents’ homes on New Year’s Eve 2011.

The mum-of-five slammed the allegations during the hearing at the council’s Dame Ellen Terry Suite.

Mrs Kousoula was close to tears during the meeting as she told the committee: “They’re absolute fabrications, it’s ludicrous. These fabrications have made me feel really ill.”

Mrs Kousoula argued there are also three clubs and pubs in the area as well as a late-night off-licence, and she and her family who live above the Radford Road premises are also victims of anti-social behaviour.

She said the application – to open Monday to Sunday from 5pm-2am, to provide live music from 11am-1am Monday to Sunday and serve alcohol from 11am-1.30am Monday to Sunday – was to “cover every eventuality” when catering for private functions, but in general the venue would keep to its current hours.

A petition signed by 22 locals had been submitted to the council in objection, citing noise, parking, antisocial behaviour and previous licence breaches as reasons. But seven petitioners later retracted their signatures after receiving letters from Mrs Kousoula saying the chief objector was using “scare tactics”.

Petition organiser Michael Galligan, a Radford Road resident of 28 years, said the restaurant causes him sleep deprivation and Zorbaz was becoming more like a nightclub than a restaurant.

He said: “The principle problem is the music, particularly the playing of traditional music. Sleep deprivation is tantamount to torture.”

The restaurant previously had permission for live music on Thursdays and Fridays from 7pm-midnight and the serving of alcohol from 10am-11pm Monday to Saturday and noon-12.30am on Sundays.

The councillors approved the licence extension without additional conditions.

Speaking after the meeting, Mrs Kousoula said: “I feel very relieved. The accusations had no foundation. I’m just glad they weren’t a factor in the decision.

“I’m disappointed that they were even included in the council’s papers despite there being no evidence to back up those claims and will be writing a letter of complaint to the council’s chief executive.

“I will also be pursuing legal action against the main objector for defamation.”