By Lisa CleverdonA MUSICIAN fighting to open a blues bar in the heart of a town has been offered a glimmer of hope after a plan for a rival takeaway pizza outlet were recommended for refusal.

By Lisa Cleverdon

A MUSICIAN fighting to open a blues bar in the heart of a town has been offered a glimmer of hope after a plan for a rival takeaway pizza outlet were recommended for refusal.

Sarah Maris said she was thrilled after officers at St Edmundsbury Borough Council said a Domino's Pizza in Bury St Edmunds would cause unacceptable levels of noise and disturbance for neighbouring residents.

Mrs Maris has been competing with the takeaway establishment to open in premises in Churchgate Street. If given the go-ahead, the pizza home delivery service would be available to customers until 11pm, seven days a week.

In a report to go before the council's development control committee on Thursday, officers said the Domino's Pizza proposal would neither preserve nor enhance the character of the area.

They added the home delivery service would have an impact on residential amenities, whereas the plan for the blues bar would not involve frequent traffic movements.

"I am really happy with the report and I am so relieved it has been recommended that the pizza restaurant should not go ahead," said Mrs Maris.

"The building in Churchgate Street is just so perfect for me and as long as Domino's Pizza do not appeal against the decision, then there is still a real chance the bar can open there after all."

Mrs Maris, who plans to call her blues bar Dusters, feared she may have been beaten in the race for the premises when Domino's Pizza submitted its application.

"If the committee goes with the recommendation, Domino's has got three months to appeal against the decision, so I suppose I will just have to sit and wait," she said.

"But I am not in any real hurry and I will wait as long as I have to in order to get the premises. I had almost given up hope at one point, but this report is wonderful and it has given me a second chance."

Mrs Maris' proposal had sparked objection from residents, who feared it would generate late-night noise and provoke anti-social behaviour, but some objectors to the pizza restaurant plan said they would prefer the blues bar given the choice.

One resident wrote to the council: "The part of town strikes me as an area that would take something more along the line of Dusters, which would attract an older customer who is less likely to be noisy."

Other objections included in the report came from the Environmental Health Agency, Bury St Edmunds Chamber of Commerce and the Bury Society and related to inappropriate location, litter, disorder and traffic movement.

lisa.cleverdon@eadt.co.uk