Cooker ban leaves supper scuppered

A MEMBER of one of the Capital's top food families has seen his plans for a new Italian restaurant go up in smoke after planners told him he would not be allowed to install a gas cooker.

Vincent Crolla, who was previously ordered by the city council to repaint his orange coloured shop, said he was "disappointed" about the restriction on his application to convert the B-listed building on Slateford Road from a furniture showroom to a restaurant.

Although the application for change of use permission by Mr Crolla – an extended member of Edinburgh's renowned Crolla food family – was approved last week, without a cooker he cannot operate the Italian restaurant he had hoped to in the building.

Instead he plans to rent it out as a cafe.

Mr Crolla, 55, said: "The council has restricted the amount of equipment I can use and the gas cooker is the main thing that's the problem.

"The council said a gas cooker would make too much smoke and the extractions might cause a smell outside.

"The council has restricted the application so much that its only use would be as a cafe, as it is only good for light baking and some cooking. "

Mr Crolla found himself in hot water with council planners in November 2008 when he gave the shop, which was being used as a factory clearance outlet at the time, a "garish" orange and white makeover.

Mr Crolla said the orange colour was only temporary to brighten up the unit, which was in "quite a bad state of disrepair" when he took it over, but he was ordered to repaint it by the local authority. Mr Crolla added that the unit had been empty for some time now.

Mr Crolla previously owned Da Vinci's in Livingston, as well as a few other restaurants in the city.

The owners of Vittoria on Leith Walk and George IV Bridge, Valvona and Crolla on Elm Row and Multrees Walk, as well as Dario's Fish and Chip Shop, are all cousins of Mr Crolla.

He had planned to staff the proposed restaurant with members of the family.

A council spokesman said the equipment permitted as part of the planning permission had been limited to a simple conveyor style pizza oven, which only requires internal carbon filters rather than a full external kitchen flue pipe.

He said the benefit would be little or no vapours therefore "protecting the visual environment" and "the character of the listed building".

The spokesman added: "The conditions controlling the operation of the use have been imposed to prevent loss of amenity to the residents above in the tenement and nearby."