{"id":536299,"date":"2025-10-29T22:16:28","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T22:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/536299\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T22:16:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T22:16:28","slug":"planning-application-lodged-to-open-restaurant-in-edinburgh-next-door-to-pepes-store","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/536299\/","title":{"rendered":"Planning application lodged to open restaurant in Edinburgh next door to Pepe\u2019s store"},"content":{"rendered":"

A RESTAURANT and takeaway could be built on the busy Gorgie<\/a> Road in Edinburgh after a planning application was submitted to the City of Edinburgh Council<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Applicant Ahmed Ali already owns significant stakes in a Pepe\u2019s Piri Piri<\/a> location right next to the prospective new restaurant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Few details have so far been released by the applicant, but the restaurant, which is currently unnamed, will be installed at a vacant premises at 544 Gorgie Road near Saughton Park<\/a> and the Corn Exchange<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The site has been vacant since a William Hill betting office there closed in 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>The part-owner of the Pepe\u2019s branch on Gorgie Road could become the owner of another restaurant just metres away (C) Google<\/p>\n

Ali Ahmed previously ran Chicken Feast Ltd. from 40 Hallhill Road in Glasgow until he was terminated as director and the company moved to a new location at 536 Gorgie Road, where a Pepe\u2019s Piri Piri franchise now operates.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite having his appointment as director terminated in 2018, Ahmed Ali was confirmed as a person of significant control in the company which owns the chicken shop in October 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Companies House states that Ali owns more than 25% but not more than 50% of the shares in the company.\u00a0<\/p>\n

40 Hallhill Road, Glasgow is the same as Ali\u2019s listed address on the planning application for the new Gorgie Road restaurant.<\/p>\n

The restaurant\u2019s floor layout would consist of a customer area with seating for 20 diners, an accessible toilet, counter serving space, a kitchen and a staff room \u2013 all of which will have to be installed from scratch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The applicant also plans to install ventilation and an extraction fan to the roof of the premises.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The stretch of road where the restaurant could be built already has the aforementioned Pepe\u2019s Piri Piri, but also a Mr. Shawarma, and a SoRice! Asian takeaway.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Neighbours were notified on 22 October and four public comments objecting to the plans have already been lodged on the Council website.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite his apparent part ownership of the Pepe\u2019s branch right next door, the applicant appears determined to press ahead with expansion plans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>From 2009 to 2023, 544 Gorgie Road served as a bookies, but has sat vacant ever since (C) Orinsen<\/p>\n

No name has yet been disclosed for the new restaurant, and no details have been released about what kind of food it may sell.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The planning application for the new restaurant says they are looking for: \u201cChange of use from class 1A (non-residential) to class 3 (restaurant \/ takeaway) on the ground floor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cExternal alterations to install ventilation and extraction flue, internal conversion of the property to form a restaurant.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ali Ahmed also ran a firm called Humza Ltd. From April 2016 to June 2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The nature of the business was \u201cretail sale via mail order houses or via internet\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ali Ahmed has been approached for comment.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A RESTAURANT and takeaway could be built on the busy Gorgie Road in Edinburgh after a planning application…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":536300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[173278,748,1102,37802,173279,48652,95561,4884,173280,46943,712,173281,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-536299","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-ahmed-ali","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-edinburgh","11":"tag-edinburgh-council","12":"tag-edinburgh-new-restaurant","13":"tag-gorgie","14":"tag-gorgie-road","15":"tag-great-britain","16":"tag-pepes-piri-piri","17":"tag-planning-application","18":"tag-scotland","19":"tag-takeaway-gorgie","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115459770581605625","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/536300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}