A former Masterchef contestant who opened a deli in Gower last year has lost an application to extend his opening hours. Christos Georgakis had wowed judges at MasterChef with his culinary prowess, reaching the contest’s semi-final stage. Last year, he opened the Gower Deli with the help of a £50,000 loan from the Development Banks of Wales, and later went on to receive an additional £60,000 grant from the Swansea Council to grow his business. To attract more customers in the busy period of summer, and compete with other businesses in the area, Christos hoped to extend his opening hours. However, his planning application has been rejected due concerns about noise. The planning application Christos had submitted sought to extend his opening hours to 8am in the morning until 10pm in the evening everyday. He can currently open from 9am to 5pm on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Sunday, and from 9am to 8pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. However, Christos has said that he does not intend to open his deli until 10pm everyday clarifying that he only wants permission to remain open until later for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Never miss a Swansea story by signing up to our newsletter here He explained that the reason he applied to remain open until 10pm throughout the week is so he does not have to apply for fresh permission to extend his opening hours everytime he has an event booking during the week day. “We clarified, and we sent an email to the Swansea Council to clarify it as well, that we don’t plan to open every day. What we want to do is we want to have flexible weekdays, said Christos. “I’m high-end private chef, if I have a request from someone who says, ‘You know what, can I hire your room, Tuesday night, to have a small party?’ “I want to be able to do it. We’re not in the town, we’re not raves, we don’t want to have parties, just food. That’s all it is.” Additionally, he explained that people start queuing before his shop by 8.30 am for coffee, and he is losing business by not catering to office goers in the morning. He added that his deli doesn’t usually open for Monday except during the peak summer periods. A planning officer has said: “Noise/nuisance from commercial premises, in close proximity to residential properties can often cause problems, particularly later in the evening and night time when other noise sources are much quiter. “In general, commercial uses in a residential area should not cause noise outside of standard hours, which are often typically 8am to 6pm. The consented opening hours already exceed this general rule, and are considerd the optimum operating times appropriate at the site. “It is acknowledged that an email on behalf of the applicant to the case officer has advised that it is not likely to be the intention to open beyond 6pm Mon- Weds; this is not however what the current application seeks. “The proposal to extend the opening hours both earlier in the morning and later in the evening 7 days a week, is considered likely to result in the generaltion of noise and general disturbance(by comings and goings) at unreasonable hours, which will affect the living conditions of local residents to an unacceptable degree, contray to LDP Policy PS 2.” However, Christos has said that as other premises in the area already have permission to open earlier and close later,he feels discriminated against by the council. Christos said: “I think it’s discrimination against the Gower Deli. I mean, I have the cafe next door that has a licence to open from 8pm until 10pm or 9pm, I think. The pizza [place] next to me operates weekends daytime and night, and they settle down 9pm. “Just about 500 feet down the road is Southgate Club, which is a pub, which opens until 12am. The nearest by, again another 200-300 feet, is the golf club which operates until 8pm. So you can’t have a few businesses operate anytime they want and you have a new business and you stop them from operating. It’s just not fair, it’s very discriminatory.” Christos also said that the Gower Deli enjoys local support as it offers a different kind of service. “But my point, we try to tell the council, is that we are not a party place, it is a high-end place. As you see from the comments in Facebook , we have the support from the whole village, the people around and the surrounding villages of Southgate,” he added. “They support us 100%, they’ve been here all the time and anytime we need them, they’re there. The deli is much more than a deli, it’s a hub, it is a place where people go to relax, to enjoy good coffee, have a conversation. We offer different things than any other cafe will offer in the area in Swansea.” The planning application to extend the working hours of the deli got three letters of objections, 20 letters of support and one letter of comment neither supporting or opposing it. A planning officer said: “A number of letters of support have been received. However, it is impartant to note that these are from persons who live some distance from the site, and would not be directly affected by the proposal. “In contrast, the objection letters have come from closer immediate neighbours who woud be impacted upon most by the proposal. The letter of comment received refers principally to traffic management in the general vicintiy and is not material to the consideration of this application.” Christos, who had earlier received a grant of £60,000 from the council said that he doesn’t understand the “rationale” behind the refusal of his application. He said: “The reason we can’t understand the decision is because last May we have a video promotional from Swansea Council, basically Swansea Council advertising how the Grow Grant is helping small business and helping them set up a new business and succeed. So the Gower Deli is in the promotion video including me talking about how helpful the Swansea Council has been. He also expressed that there was lack of co-ordination between Swansea Council departments. He said: “We applied for an alcohol licence, the alcohol licence had been approved for until 9.30pm. I can sell alcohol until 9.30pm, but I don’t have planning permission to open until 9pm, does that make any sense?” “The Swansea Council departments operate separate. They don’t communicate with each other, they don’t speak with each other, and this is a killer for the small business. “And the reason it’s a killer for the smaller business is because A, it’s too expensive, and B, we end up in situations like this. “You can’t plan and this decision will have an effect on me financially because I’m going to lose my July-August trade. In the Gower, it is a very busy that month due to tourists with the coming down here.” A Swansea Council spokesman said: “Mr Georgakis’ claim of discrimination is incorrect. The reference to grant arrangements is irrelevant as planning decisions are reached on the basis of planning law and guidance only and no other considerations. “The decision was based on the facts in the application. The application was clear in that permission was sought to open until 10pm every night – not Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. If Mr Georgakis wants to amend his application to seek alternative opening or closing times, he can do so and apply again. He is also entitled to appeal to the Welsh Government , should he wish.”