New French-style village bistro granted licence despite parking and noise concerns

Owner James Aspell is planning to open Le Petit Vert – a French-style café and bistro, serving “tasty vegetarian and plant-based brunch, pastries and cakes” – in an old furniture shop on Main Street, Farnsfield, in September.

He applied to Newark & Sherwood Council for permission to sell alcohol from 9am-11pm seven days a week.

And how his application has been approved by a council licensing panel.

The meeting heard concerns from two Farnsfield Parish Council members over potential excessive noise and car parking issues.

The panel was told the rural village is home to numerous licensed premises, including the popular Rustic Crust pizzeria and The Lion restaurant and pub.

Coun Kim Drew, parish council planning and licensing committee chairman, speaking in a personal capacity, said: “The huge impact this business will have on this area, in comparison to the previous tenant of these premises … will be considerable.

“Should we not be concerned about the number of licensed premises in Farnsfield? Le Petit Vert would make it 10 licensed premises.

“We’re [also] at saturation point with cars. We’re an 18th Century village needing to cope with 21st Century demographic and traffic.

“Both have drastically increased but the village infrastructure has stagnated.”

Coun Peter Sarre, parish council chairman, also raised concerns about noise and disturbance from drinkers and the proposed opening hours.

He said: “The council definitely welcomes new businesses of various types when the impact on quality of life is proportionate.

“Having spoken to residents, many favour a French-style café in Farnsfield.

“The issue, though, is what impact it would have in its proposed form, particularly on nearby residents and businesses, and the related matters including traffic and parking.”

He suggested the terms of the licence should be regularly reviewed alongside a temporary condition of ‘bring your own’ alcohol.

He also asked for Mr Aspell to work with the parish council on introducing a cycle rack and suggested reduced licensing hours to 10am-10pm.

However, the panel granted the application in full, meaning the venue will be allowed to serve alcohol until 11pm at night.

But papers published before the meeting confirmed the venue’s actual opening hours would be Wednesdays and Thursdays, 9am-10pm, Fridays and Saturdays, 9am-11pm, and Sundays, 10am-4pm.

The licence allows alcohol to be served for one extra hour on Bank Holiday weekends, and until 1am on New Year’s Day.

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The venue hopes to offer pop-up food nights, cheese and wine evenings and baby and toddler mornings.

In the meeting, Mr Aspell said his parents live in a connecting flat and he plans to soundproof the building to prevent loud noise and disturbance.

His legal team confirmed signs will be installed encouraging people to respect neighbouring properties, while people smoking outside will not be allowed to take glass outdoors.

Mr Aspell told the panel: “We want to open as a relatively small, family café and bistro.

“My parents live in the property and one of the reasons we’re opening the premises is because we want to have control over it.

“We have no intention of running anything that will cause disturbance to them or anyone else in the village. It will be daytime and teatime-focused.”