Rudy’s restaurant in Chapel Allerton removes shutters after row with neighboring Greek restaurant

Rudy is on Stainbeck Alley removed the flaps on either side of the front seating area after a formal complaint to Leeds City Council was hosted by the owner of the Mad Greek next door, Kostas Tsiknakis.

Mr Tsiknakis said he had already seen business improve after the move, but was still asking them to remove the two shutters at the front of the restaurant.

Mr Tsiknakis said: “They opened the window on my side. It’s much better.

“It made a difference.”

He added: “The flaps at the front shouldn’t be there though.

“I open earlier than them and close later, so you still can’t see mine completely at times.”

He said he had conversations with those running the restaurant and were told they would try to keep the shutters closed, but he still maintains they do not have planning permission.

The council had previously confirmed to the Yorkshire Evening Post that it was looking into a potential breach of planning controls in relation to the shutters.

And a letter from council, seen by YEP, says Rudy has been advised that ‘planning permission has not been granted for the changes’ and that he must ‘either provide documentary evidence that planning permission exists , or remove it and return the site to its previous state”.

He added that the shutters are “considered to be characterless” in relation to what is a conservation area.

Mr Tsiknakis opened Mad Greek in 2012 after running a stall selling olives at Kirkgate Market for 10 years before.

He said the nearby former restaurant, Casa Mia, had a glass front so people could see the Greek restaurant from across the road and the public square at the junction of Stainbeck Lane and Harrogate Road.