A GENTEEL seaside town where people campaigned unsuccessfully to stop the opening of a fish and chip shop may soon get a new food outlet - a kebab shop.

By Annie Davidson

A GENTEEL seaside town where people campaigned unsuccessfully to stop the opening of a fish and chip shop may soon get a new food outlet - a kebab shop.

Civic leaders in Frinton are already preparing to shoot down the plans, claiming such a premises would be “degrading” in the upmarket town.

An application has been submitted for a kebab shop to be opened in prestigious Connaught Avenue - once dubbed the Bond Street of East Anglia.

The plans, for the former premises of the Olive Luff Christian bookshop, are yet to come before Tendring District Council - but town councillors have already voiced their objections.

The takeaway, which would also offer pizzas, could attract litter and cause a noise nuisance, it has been claimed.

Frinton's deputy mayor, Terry Allen, said: “It would be detrimental to the area and is not needed.

“It is not right for that shop - it is an A1 business, but also it will affect the town's character.

“A kebab place is for late night revellers to turn up at and cause grief at 11 or 12'o'clock at night and leave the local people to clear up the mess in the morning.

“As a community leader and councillor for Frinton I think it is detrimental and unsympathetic to the street scene.

“We really want a retail shop not another eatery. There was a time we were short of eating places but we have got lots now and they are really good quality stuff. A kebab shop would be degrading.

Frinton Residents' Association chairman Brian McLellan said it was not in favour of the kebab shop.

“We are opposed to it for two reasons. One is the question of litter and the other thing is there are already something like nine outlets where one can either eat or get a takeaway.

“There's fish and chips very near where the kebab shop is meant to be and there is a pizza place at the other end of the road as well as three cafes which carry some sort of fast food. It is overdoing it.”

Mr McLellan added that a kebab shop did not fit in with the character of Connaught Avenue.

“It is a place where we want shops,” he said.

Iris Johnson, a town and district councillor, said: “We don't think there is a need.

“It is not the sort of thing we have in Connaught Avenue and there has never been a request for such a place.

“But I am most concerned about the time scale as most places like this are open late at night to attract people coming out of the pub or somewhere like that so I don't think it is good news.

“It is a residential area and people live in the flats just above there. I am not particularly happy about it.”

However, Mrs Johnson added she would keep an open mind until she heard all the information.

Tendring District Council's planning committee, of which Mrs Johnson is a member, will have the final say.

The applicant for the kebab shop, Ali Kayhan, was unavailable for comment yesterday.