UK Cafe Owners Forced To Remove Extractor Fan Because The Smell Of Bacon Offends Muslims

49-year-old Beverley Akciecek and her 50-year-old husband Cetin (who happens to be a Muslim Turk) run a small cafe, called Beverley's Snack Shack, in a residential area in Manchester. They have been cooking breakfast and lunch there for the past three years. They're a hard working couple who work long hours to support their seven kids, but all that might change because of one malcontent neighbour. One of the main menu items happens to be bacon and they have an extractor fan to remove the odors. They have now been told by councillors at the Stockport Council that they have to remove the fan because it 'offends' the Muslim friends who visit the neighbour next door. Apparently the man said that his friends would feel 'physically sick' due to the 'foul odour'.

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What's odd about this story is that Cetin and his Muslim family and friends don't seem to have a problem with the smell, and Cetin even cooks the bacon himself, so why should the neighbour be bothered by it. According to Beverley, she even has Muslim customers buy sandwiches from her. They obviously don't seem to have a problem either. She claims that,

'When we go to a cafe my husband wouldn't be offended by the smell of bacon. His friends are not offended by it, we have three visitors who come here for a sandwich, friends of my husband, and the smell doesn't offend them at all.

'My brother-in-law doesn't flinch if he comes and we've just taken out three trays of bacon.

After all, it's not as if they are eating the bacon. And how many people find the smell of certain foreign foods offensive? Would we complain about the smell and try and force the owner to move? I think not. As a vegetarian I find the smell of some meats foul, but I still eat at restaurants that serve it. As long as I'm not ingesting the food, I have no problem.

I have to wonder whether it was the neighbour or his Muslim friends who found the smell offensive. Either way the whole thing is absurd. His Muslim friends have the right to be offended but they have no right to force the restaurant owners to remove the fan. As for the neighbour, if he is the one that can't abide the smell the fact he is using his Muslim friends as an excuse is not a good thing.

However, Beverley is determined to fight this since no-one seemed to have a problem with the cafe and the bacon smell before.

'I'm going to find a local councillor. I'm waiting for the letter so I can appeal.'

The couple took over the take-away in 2007 from the previous owner and replaced the existing extractor fan, which had been there for six years, with a new modern one. They claim they received no complaints about the cafe which is open from 7.30am-2.30pm six days a week, until around 18 months ago when they received a letter from environmental services to say their neighbour Graham Webb-Lee had complained about the smell.

Mrs Akciecek said: 'We've never had a problem about the smell because everything is pre-cooked. We cook it in the oven so there's no foul smell.

'It's pre-cooked so the smell isn't as strong when we're frying it off. It's like living next to someone who's cooking a Sunday breakfast but it's not constant it's just in the morning.

'It's been a sandwich shop for about eight years, cooking exactly the same stuff. The lady before me did double because they were actually building new houses across the road so she was really busy. She was here from 6am-4pm because they were so busy.

'They were there before me but they were also there when the lady who owns the business was here and she was doing double what we are. She had five staff, you can imagine how bust that shop was and they never complained at all.'

It all started last year when the nasty neighbour complained to the council, which then sent people to investigate. They found no problems. So the neighbour complained again, this time he was able to gain traction.

The couple had never applied for planning permission as they had simply replaced an existing extractor fan with one of the same size and in the same position, but, following further complaints from their neighbour, they were informed by the council they would have to apply retrospectively as an objection had been raised. They applied for planning permission in May this year, but the application was refused at a meeting of Stockport Area Committee on October 14.

Mr Webb-Lee objected to the application - complaining that his Muslim friends refused to visit him because they 'can't stand the smell of bacon'.

Mrs Akciecek, who also attended the meeting, said: 'He said he had a daughter with an eating disorder, the Muslim friends, and the bad smell all the time is making his clothes smell.

'The councillors agreed with him without even asking me what I thought. It was as if they didn't even realise I was there.

'This cafe is our only source of income. There are only two of us working, we haven't got any staff anymore. We work seven hours in the shop and my husband goes to the cash and carry and has all the prep work to do. We're working long hours. He does about 50 hours a week easy and I'm working about the same and we work Saturdays.

'The shop will be a lot harder work. It will be a good hour a day washing the walls down, I will not work anywhere with the grease falling down the walls. We can't move it anywhere.

'I'm not going to accept it and we're going to fight it.'

I hope she wins. She and her husband are just trying to make an honest living. Let him visit his friends at their homes.