Woman forced to close her café after neighbour complains of 'bacon smell'
A café owner has been forced to shut down her business after a neighbour complained about the smell of bacon.
Emma Ayles' Caddy Shack, popular with customers and dog walkers, had to close due to this complaint, leaving eight people jobless. Emma expressed her frustration, saying: "If they can close me down on based on one neighbour's complaints, it is beyond me. There are eight employees made redundant as a result. On Saturday afternoon I found out about the decision and we had to close down. We are trying to arrange if I can move elsewhere."
Despite many praising the café as an "asset to the community" in Weymouth, Dorset, its future looks uncertain. Emma's appeal to keep trading was rejected by the Planning Inspectorate. The café, located in a converted steel box container at Weymouth and Portland Rugby Club, had faced opposition even before serving its first latte.
Speaking to DorsetLive, Emma said: "I needed a new space and Weymouth and Portland RFC approached me to move my café to their ground. They emailed the leaseholders Dorset Council for permission and said I could be there on a temporary basis."
"Before I opened, neighbours were complaining. I think they kept on to the council and they said I had to get planning permission. We put in an application to retain the change of use and it went to a decision in February 2023 and all was going well at that point."
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"This business overlooks our back garden directly. It is a busy cafe that creates problems with noise as well as parking issues as customers regularly park behind our back fence it operates seven days a week."
"As well as the obvious problem of being overlooked there is also the problem of cooking smells and we are often unable to put our washing on the line due to it smelling of bacon."
Emma slammed the complaints about her cafe, saying: "If you look on Facebook or on the petition everyone says how quiet it is and there are no issues."
She also mentioned that she tried to fix the noise problem with bamboo and thinks the Planning Inspectorate's comments don't make sense. Emma is worried it could take another nine months to sort out a new planning application.
She added: "We saw the report they refused it on the grounds of noise. There was no noise in the day and they presumed there would be in the summer and that's why he's closed us down. I was there and it was rainy, wet and didn't have a load of trade or got much takings. I closed down at around 12.30pm or 1pm as a result."
Emma, worried about the impact of the situation, said: "To submit a new planning application, that is a nine months turnaround and I cannot run my business. Therefore I have no income and cannot trade. I am in limbo and unsure what to do."
* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can report any errors to [email protected]
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