Shah's Halal Sutton: Not Open, Licence Hearing 9 October

A Sutton High Street restaurant has applied to stay open until 5am, every night of the week.

The application covers 292 High Street, SM1 1PQ, trading as Shah’s Halal Food. It was received by Sutton Council’s licensing team and published on the council’s current applications page on 19 August. Anyone wanting to comment has until 16 September 2026.

Update, 1 October 2026: Shah’s Sutton goes to a licensing hearing on 9 October

Shah’s Halal Food in Sutton is still not open, and its late licence has not gone through quietly, as the cancelled 28 September committee had suggested. Sutton Council has listed the application for a Licensing Sub-Committee hearing on Friday 9 October 2026 at 10.30am at the Civic Offices, St Nicholas Way. The papers were published on the council’s committee site and read on 1 October.

Why it is going to a hearing. The council’s report says the Metropolitan Police and the council’s Environmental Health Officer both raised concerns at first, and that the hours were cut from 5am “following consultation with the Metropolitan Police”. Once the operating schedule was amended, both withdrew their representations. What remains:

• Two valid objections from local residents, both sent on 28 August 2026, after the hours had already been cut. One objects on public nuisance grounds, describing speeding cars, delivery drivers and late crowds on that stretch of the High Street, and says the writer welcomes the business but “there is really no need for it to open so late”. The other, a longer objection covering crime and disorder, public safety and public nuisance, asks the Sub-Committee to refuse the licence or, if it grants it, to hold the closing time to the council’s policy guideline and add conditions such as a dispersal policy and a named contact for residents.
• A representation from the council’s own planning team. Its email of 14 September tells the applicant that the late night hours are “outside of those allowed by planning permission” for the premises. The 2016 permission for 292 High Street, B2016/74536/FUL, carries a condition (number 6) that the premises “shall not be used by the public for the purposes hereby permitted before 7am and after 12 pm Monday to Sunday”, which in context is a midnight closing. Planning has pointed the applicant to an application to vary or remove that condition.

What that means in practice. Even if the Sub-Committee grants the licence on 9 October, a 1am or 2am close would still sit outside the planning condition unless that condition is varied separately. The licence and the planning permission are two different consents.

What the committee can do. The report sets out four options: grant as requested, grant with extra conditions, exclude some of the licensable activities, or reject the application. The hearing is public and the papers, including the redacted objections, are on Sutton’s committee site. We will report the decision.

Update, 13 September 2026: the 5am plan is gone, and the shop is not open yet

Two things have changed since this was first published on 22 August, and both matter if you searched for Shah’s Halal Food in Sutton rather than for the licence.

The 5am closing time has been dropped. The application was amended on 31 August to ask for 1am Sunday to Thursday and 2am on Friday and Saturday instead of 5am seven nights a week. The detail below describes the original bid; the current one is three hours shorter on most nights. The full amendment is in our report on the 5am licence bid cut back to 2am.

It is not trading yet. Shah’s Halal’s own site still lists the Sutton branch as “Opening Soon”, with the address given as 292 High St, Sutton SM1 1PQ and the opening hours field left blank. The Food Standards Agency record for Shahs Halal Food Sutton, held by Sutton Council, shows the premises registered but “Awaiting inspection”, which is what a food business that has not started trading looks like on that register. Anyone turning up expecting to eat should check before travelling.

What it will be when it opens. The chain’s Sutton page lists gyros, platters, wraps and salads, with chicken, lamb, kofta kebab, falafel and fish served over rice or chips, and its own hot, white and green sauces. It is a fast halal counter rather than a sit-down restaurant, which is the context for a licence that runs past midnight.

The comment deadline has not moved. Representations still close on 16 September 2026, which is three days from this update, and the council removes the application from its website after that.

Update, 21 September 2026: the consultation has closed, and Shah’s Sutton is still not open

If you searched for Shah’s Sutton to find out whether you can eat there, the answer on 21 September 2026 is still no. Three checks, all made today:

• The chain’s own Sutton page is still headed “Sutton (Opening Soon)”, with the address given as 292 High St, Sutton SM1 1PQ and the opening hours field left as a dash. The menu is published, the shop is not trading.
• The Food Standards Agency record still says “Awaiting inspection”, with no rating and no rating date, checked through the FSA’s own API. A food business gets inspected once it starts serving, so that status is itself the answer.
• The licence application has come off the council’s current applications page, which is what Sutton says it does with every application after the representation deadline. The deadline was 16 September 2026.

What happens next depends on whether anyone objected. Sutton’s published process is that where valid representations are received the application is decided by the Licensing Committee, and where none are received it is granted by officers under delegated powers. The council’s meeting calendar shows the Licensing Committee listed for 28 September 2026 as cancelled, which is the pattern when no contested application needs a hearing, though the council has not said publicly that the two things are connected.

We read that, on 21 September, as the amended hours probably going through without a hearing. That turned out to be wrong: the application was listed for a Licensing Sub-Committee hearing on 9 October instead (see the 1 October update above). The hours being sought are 1am Sunday to Thursday and 2am Friday and Saturday, rather than the 5am seven nights a week originally advertised. The shop still has to open, and be inspected, before any of that matters to a customer.

What is being asked for

The applicant is WOHZ Ltd, a company incorporated on 28 November 2025 with a registered office in Yiewsley, West Drayton. It is represented by MEK Town Planning and Design Consultants Ltd.

The application form states that the premises currently operates between 11am and 11pm, Monday to Sunday including bank holidays. It asks for:

• late night refreshment from 11pm to 5am, every day of the week including bank holidays
• opening hours to the public of 11am to 5am, every day
• the late night refreshment to be provided both indoors and outdoors
• a licence starting on 30 September 2026, with no end date

There is no request to sell alcohol. The form answers “no” to plays, films, indoor sport, boxing or wrestling, live music, recorded music and dance. In the applicant’s own words, the premises “will be used for serving mainly food to be eaten on the premises but with limited takeaway and non-alcoholic beverages. No alcohol will be served, and there will be no music.”

The premises has a non-domestic rateable value of £35,000. Shah’s Halal Food Sutton is listed on the council’s food hygiene register as a restaurant, cafe or canteen and is awaiting its first inspection.

What the applicant is offering

Applicants set out the steps they will take against the four licensing objectives, and those steps normally become conditions if a licence is granted. This application offers:

• CCTV inside and outside, recording 24 hours, with footage provided to police
• a written incident log, kept at the premises and available to the police or the council on request
• a zero-tolerance policy on anti-social behaviour, drug use and violence, with staff calling police “as soon as possible” in the event of a disturbance
• lighting maintained inside and outside to deter antisocial activity
• signage asking customers to leave quietly, and waste collections scheduled “at reasonable hours”
• a designated waste storage area shown on the layout plan, with a commitment that no waste will be left on the pavement
• no unaccompanied children after 10pm
• fire equipment maintained, marked and unobstructed exits, a first-aid kit and regular risk assessments

What it means for you

The point of the consultation window is that a licence, once granted, is difficult to unpick. These are the practical facts.

• You have until 16 September 2026 to comment. After that, the council removes the application from its website and it is decided.
• Comments have to be relevant. Under the Licensing Act 2003 a representation must relate to one of the four objectives: the prevention of crime and disorder, public safety, the prevention of public nuisance, or the protection of children from harm. Noise at 3am, litter and late-night disturbance all fall inside those objectives. Disliking the type of business does not.
• Your comment is passed to the applicant in full. The council says the Act requires it, so write accordingly.
• If anyone objects, there is a hearing. Valid representations send the application to the Licensing Committee, and everyone who made one is invited to attend.
• Comments go to Sutton Council’s licensing team, and the routes are on the current applications page.

One other application is live in the borough. Cheam Sports Club’s bid for a premises licence at Peaches Close closes for comment on 28 August.

Nothing has been decided. An application is a request, and the council has not yet ruled on it. If you want to see how the town centre is changing more broadly, our Sutton planning applications page tracks what is in front of the council, and parking in Sutton covers what it costs to get there.

Shah’s Halal Sutton: quick answers

Is Shah’s Halal in Sutton open?

Not as of 1 October 2026. The chain’s own Sutton page still says “Opening Soon” with no opening hours, and the Food Standards Agency record is still “Awaiting inspection”.

Where is Shah’s Halal Sutton?

At 292 High Street, Sutton SM1 1PQ, in the town centre.

What hours will Shah’s Halal Sutton open?

It has applied to open 11am to 1am Sunday to Thursday and 11am to 2am on Friday and Saturday. Sutton’s Licensing Sub-Committee decides that on 9 October 2026, and the site’s 2016 planning permission separately limits public use to before midnight.

Sources

• London Borough of Sutton, Licensing Sub-Committee, 9 October 2026: agenda item 7, the officer report on Shah’s Halal Food (reference 26/01557/LAPREM), Appendix 2 (hours), Appendix 4 (the planning representation and decision notice B2016/74536/FUL) and Appendix 5 (two redacted representations from residents). Read 1 October 2026.

• Shah’s Halal UK Sutton page and the FSA API, both re-checked 1 October 2026: still “Opening Soon”, still “AwaitingInspection”.

• London Borough of Sutton, current premises licence applications, accessed 22 August 2026

• The redacted application form and floor plan published by the council, dated 19 August 2026
• Companies House, WOHZ LTD, company number 16879392
• Food Standards Agency, Shahs Halal Food Sutton, Sutton food hygiene register. Re-checked through the FSA’s own API on 13 September 2026: the rating is recorded as “Awaiting inspection” with no rating date.
• Shah’s Halal UK, Sutton branch page, still headed “Sutton (Opening Soon)” with the opening hours field blank when re-checked on 21 September 2026
• London Borough of Sutton meeting calendar on moderngov, read 21 September 2026, for the Licensing Committee of 28 September 2026 being listed as cancelled. The FSA record was re-checked through the API the same day and still returns AwaitingInspection with no rating date.