Fife Council to take action against Buzz Shisha Lounge owner

Local residents said the business, in an old garage behind a row of shops and flats in Abbeyview's Duncan Crescent, was still operating despite permission twice being refused.

Buzz Shisha Lounge opened in the summer of 2022 and Mr M Arslan's retrospective application for planning consent was refused by the council in January of this year and enforcement action was authorised at that time.

An appeal to the Fife planning review body was then knocked back in August.

The Buzz Shisha Lounge in Abbeyview was refused planning permission in January and again in August. Local residents said it was still operating in October. (Image: John Booth)

However, in October Dunfermline South councillor Lynn Ballantyne Wardlaw told planning officers that it was still in business.

In an email she wrote: "It has been brought to my attention by local residents that the shisha bar at 22 Duncan Crescent, Dunfermline continues to operate.

"Can you please advise the current position?"

This week the council confirmed to the Press that "formal enforcement action is underway" which will, if the business is trading, force it to shut down.

Shisha bars are normally found in large cities throughout the UK and allow patrons to share and smoke shisha – flavoured or fruit tobacco made from molasses – from a communal hookah or from one placed at each table.

Mr Arslan, of Glenrothes, applied to change the use of an old garage into a hookah smoking lounge in April 2022.

A statement on his behalf said he was "unaware he needed planning permission", conversion work had already been done and that was the reason for seeking retrospective approval.

He said the business would have indoor and outdoor seating areas, serve up to a maximum of 15 customers and open from noon to 11pm, Monday to Sunday.

Going by its Facebook page, the Buzz Shisha Lounge was already operating in July 2022 without permission.

That same month a Dunfermline dad who lived opposite the site told the Press it was making his life a "total nightmare" due to late night noise and disruption.

Mr Arslan's planning agent had argued that the new business would benefit the community.

He explained: "There's a demand and it will be well-controlled. They're not going to let kids in and they have been speaking to local councillors about their proposals.

"I've read some of the comments about it attracting drug use, encouraging children to start vaping and lending itself to anti-social behaviour in the area, everyone has their own opinion but shisha bars are becoming more popular and I have never seen reports confirming any of these concerns."

A petition against the plans was signed by 250 local residents and raised concerns about late-night noise and disturbance, road safety, anti-social behaviour and parking problems.

Permission was refused by the west and central planning committee in January and the lead planning officer, Derek Simpson, said: "If the unauthorised shisha bar use does not cease, formal enforcement will be taken."

A petition to keep the shisha bar open was signed by 257 people, there was also six letters of support, and handed in to the planning review body in August.

The applicant added: "Should the refusal decision not be overturned, it is most likely the building in time will fall back into a state of disrepair as there will be no use for it given that it does not have its own parking therefore planning permission would not be granted for any other use."

However the review body rejected the appeal on the grounds of road safety, noise and parking.