Seven Seas still waiting

THE owners of Mount Lawley restaurant Seven Seas, including former Fremantle Dockers captain Peter Bell, are confident the State Administrative Tribunal will endorse their plans for a late night supper club despite opposition from the City of Stirling.

After lodging plans with the City of Stirling to carry out some refurbishments at Seven Seas and rebranding it as the Malt Supper Club, Mr Bell and business partner Antonio Tricario were surprised when approval was granted at the same time as the venue's operating hours were significantly reduced.

Last month eight of the 11 councillors, including mayor David Bootham, took issue with the existing 3am closing time and imposed new closing times of midnight Sunday to Thursday and 1am on Friday and Saturday nights.

Mr Bell had envisaged providing food to Malt customers at a later hour than most places do currently and believes he has the licence to do so.

However Cr Bootham said the operating hours were reduced due to the close proximity of the restaurant to residential dwellings and the consideration for the amenity of residents residing to the rear of the property.

Mr Bell and Mr Tricario bought Seven Seas in August last year and had expected to continue operating under the existing licence with the amenity of the area a top priority.

"We haven't applied for an extension of any liquor licenses, any operating hours or any change of use," Mr Bell said.

"What we've done is lodge a development application to change the canopy at the front to the building; that's a structural change therefore we were told it necessitated a development approval.

"A year later we've received an approval but within that approval the council has seen fit to reduce our operating hours."

Mr Bell said 12 months of arguing with the council has cost him a couple of hundred thousands of dollars, leading him to proceed through the SAT.

"All we want is to be able to open up a restaurant bar exactly like the last three owners have been able to do," Mr Bell told WA Business News.

"SAT have made some directions but I'm not sure legally if I'm allowed to say what those directions are.

"From an applicant's perspective, my business partner and I are extremely confident that we'll be achieving the results we want through this process."