The restaurant license will be decided after the owners abandon the 4am plan

Sandwell Council’s licensing committee will decide whether to grant De Vibez Lounge in Cape Hill, Smethwick, a premises license after delaying a decision in June over fire safety concerns.

The restaurant owners were given more time to make their premises safer after applying for a late-night license earlier this year, raising eyebrows at West Midlands Fire Service.

The fire service has raised an objection to De Vibez Lounge’s late-night plans, saying its safety officers found no alarms or fire detectors when they visited the Cape Hill restaurant.

The restaurant originally applied to open until 4am at weekends, but has now agreed to reduce the hours following discussions with the council.

The agreed opening hours are now 8am to 10.30pm Monday to Thursday – with the restaurant cleared until 11pm – and 8pm to 11.30pm Friday and Saturday with an extra 30 minutes for everyone to leave. Opening hours for Sundays and bank holidays would be 10am to 10pm plus half an hour extra.

The council’s licensing committee met in Oldbury on June 5 and was expected to make a decision on the application, but councilors agreed to give the restaurant more time after being told work had started to install the equipment fire safety.

The fire service said an alarm system had to be installed and artificial plants removed “as a minimum” before the objection could be removed and also said the applicant had failed to attend a planned visit and a telephone number provided “appeared to be incorrect.”

The African restaurant opened in the former Sampson Lloyd pub last December. The former Wetherspoon’s pub on the corner of Cape Hill and Waterloo Road has been empty for several years after the budget chain left in 2014.

The Licensing Committee meets from 10am on 29 July.