Councillors have approved a ‘world-famous’ Scarborough fish and chip shop’s application to sell alcohol and play music despite local concerns.
The award-winning Tunny Club at East Sandgate in Scarborough’s South Bay will be allowed to sell alcohol from 10am to 10pm and play live and recorded music seven days a week.
On Tuesday (January 20) councillors ruled that Nicholas Hartley’s licence application would be approved, after hearing evidence from concerned neighbours who said music and noise could affect their quality of life.
Mr Hartley, who purchased the Tunny Club in 2024, told a council licensing committee he was trying to make the business
“more viable during the long winter months and trying to keep our permanent staff more fully employed and allow them more hours”.
He said:
“We’ve been asked on numerous occasions by customers why we cannot serve them a beer.”
The Tunny Club was previously a private members’ club for fishermen, founded in the 1930s.
Vaughan Birbeck, who retired to Scarborough with his wife and lives next door to the business, said:
“My concern is mainly down to quality of life, as we are at home most of the time and if the music started at 10am, we’d be exposed to it most of the day.
“The streets are very narrow, and buildings high, and sound tends to reverberate here.”
However, the applicant said that the request to play music and show films was ancillary to being able to sell alcohol.
Mr Hartley told the licensing sub-committee:
“In terms of music, we are very restricted by space, and I could only envisage an acoustic music being appropriate with no amplification.
“I’m trying really hard to make the Tunny Club a more sustainable business that can employ permanent staff all year round, offering good quality fish and chips in a historic setting, and the ability to offer a beer or a glass of wine would help.”
He added:
“The last thing I want to be is a bad neighbour.”
Cllr Derek Bastiman, a member of the committee, said:
“Anything that supports employment is a positive and anything that prolongs the season is a good thing for me.”
The chair of the committee, former police officer, Cllr Tim Grogan, said he was impressed by the representations made by the applicant and local resident, and asked that if issues were to arise in the future, they be brought to the council’s attention.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) after the meeting, Mr Hartley and Mr Birbeck said they were satisfied with the committe’s decision to grant the licence.
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