Plans to keep a tea shop that was built without planning permission have been submitted to Bradford Council.
The cafe, Tea O Clock, sits on the grounds of Chacha’s Plaza on Ingleby Road and was completed in late 2024. The retrospective application, submitted by Anwar Bashir, asks the council to grant approval after the fact.
Chacha’s Plaza is the former Westfield House, once home to the Grattan catalogue shop. In 2021, the council approved a planning application to convert the building into a charity-founded community hall, with uses including a games room, classrooms, and a community canteen. The venue has since been rebranded and describes itself as offering a mix of retail units and food outlets that attract significant customer traffic.
In planning documents, the applicant argues that the cafe adds to the site’s overall offer. The documents describe the work as the “redevelopment and extension of an existing roofless masonry structure” to create a modern cafe serving visitors and employees on site.
For mason contractors, the story is a reminder that even relatively small additions tied to an existing masonry structure carry real risk when permitting is handled late. When a project involves adapting an older masonry shell, teams benefit from clear scope documentation on what is existing, what is new, and how any added elements connect to the original construction, especially at rooflines and weather-exposed areas.
A decision on the application is expected next month. Bradford Council previously refused plans in 2021 for two fast food and cafe units on the site, citing concerns about impacts on the vitality and viability of nearby local centers.
Read the full, original article from Yahoo News UK here.