A café owner has pledged that his venue in a York housing development will not be a bustling, late-night restaurant following a noise complaint against his alcohol licence bid.

Ted Hustler, owner of the Tasca Frango Portguese restaurant, said their new Café Frango venture at the Cocoa Works development would serve drinks with food and not be a bar.

He was responding to a complaint from a resident of a neighbouring flat who claimed they would not be able to leave their windows open do to noise at night.

It comes as Café Frango’s alcohol licence application was approved following its hearing at City of York Council’s Licensing Committee on Thursday, August 8.

The venue is set to move into a pavilion built as part of the housing development at the former Rowntree factory in Haxby Road.

Mr Hustler already owns the Tasca Frango restaurant in King’s Square which opened in August last year.

A plan showing the pavilion within the Cocoa Works development, in Haxby Road, York. Picture is from York CouncilA plan showing the pavilion within the Cocoa Works development, in Haxby Road, York. Picture is from York Council

Councillors heard Café Frango would serve food such as pastries and bacon sandwiches in the morning and at lunchtime.

Small plate dishes like those at the King's Square restaurant would be served in the afternoon and evening with beer or wine available as an accompaniment.

There would be 12 seats outside and space for up to 28 customers to sit inside.

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The licence approved by councillors would allow it to serve alcohol between 8am and 11pm, seven days a week but with some conditions.

Alcohol will only be served with food and the venue’s doors and windows will have to be closed after 9pm except when people enter and leave the premises.

The café would also be required to make space within the pavilion available to those living at the Cocoa Works for community uses.

The objector, who was the only one to lodge a complaint against the application, said they did not disagree with serving alcohol but they were concerned about potential nuisance noise.

They said: “Noise already carries from street level to open windows and I fear that once the pavilion is operating as proposed I and other residents will not be able to leave out windows open at night.”

Mr Hustler said he did not intend to stay open for the full hours applied for, adding his King’s Square restaurant had received no noise complaints since opening.

The owner said: “This isn’t going to be a big, bustling restaurant, it should be very quiet, it’s not going to cause any disruption at all.

“We want to create a community hub for residents, not a late-night bar.”