From the East Kent Mercury, 21 February 2024. By Sam Lennon.

Furniture shop will be replaced by cafe bar.

The soon-to-be boss of a new cafe bar is set to throw open the doors to his business - despite fierce competition in a street dubbed “take away alley”.

Priyathanushan Shanmuga-rajah’s food and drinks spot will be the 13th place to eat within a 350-yard stretch in Dover following his successful planning bid.

Priyathanushan Shanmugarajah.

London Road, between Bridge Street and Cherry Tree Avenue, already houses 12 food outlets, with Hoops Dover now expected to open next month.

Dover District Council approved Mr Shanmugarajah planning bid earlier in February.

Now, the Aylesham resident says Hoops will open seven days a week from 7am to 11pm with an alcohol licence, and is expected to seat 20 to 30 customers.

“I am very pleased that we have been granted permission,” he added.

“We will start by employing four staff and if it is successful enough we will bring it up to eight.

”We will not include a takeaway service straight away but we will eventually.”

Mr Shanmugarajah previously said he was confident the business would do well despite the large amount of competition already there as his would be the only cafe bar on the street.

The original application had been for the business to trade every day from 6am to 2am but environmental health officers feared this would cause disturbance to neighbours.

Their report to the council’s planning department said: “A business of this nature is more likely to generate noise disturbance than its current use, likely to generate noise complaints from the flats and other neighbours.”

They said three self-contained flats would be directly affected and the World Health Organisation recommends undisturbed sleep from 11pm to 7am.

No members of the public raised objections to the application on the district council's planning portal and Dover Town Council supported the bid.

The new business, with 200 sq m of floor space, replaces the Clara-Beau Interiors home decor shop.

The boss of that venture, Lisa Hazell, of Lydd, moved out last March saying London Road had too many traffic and parking problems.

She had used the term “takeaway alley” and warned that the new business would face stiff competition because of the amount of food outlets there.

But Mr Shanmugarajah has high hopes for his venture and says most of his customers would be local and walk in, so would not be affected by traffic and parking problems.

Hoops Dover will be within 350 yards of London Road between Beaconsfield Road and Cherry Tree Avenue.

That stretch has four pizza shops, four Chinese takeaways, one tandoori restaurant, one fish and chip shop, a bakery, and a kebab shop.