Burnside hotel and Cask N Tandoor owner Rakesh Singh makes another retrospective planning application - this time for illegally-built storeroom

THE owner of an illegally built Shottery pub is stirring up further controversy by submitting another planning application for work already partly done.

Businessman Rakesh Singh, 56, hit the headlines last year after he erected Indian gastro pub the Cask N Tandoor at the Burnside Hotel in the village’s conservation area without planning permission.

As the Herald exclusively reported just before Christmas, the pub was built in early 2024 but was refused retrospective planning permission by Stratford District Council (SDC) officers in December.

Meanwhile, as planning officers are still considering enforcing the refusal – including the possible demolition of the pub – Mr Singh has just submitted a further, partly retrospective application. This time it is for a 28 sq m kitchen extension and smaller storeroom. The 8 sq m storeroom extension has already been erected without permission.

This latest application has already been blasted by some neighbours.

Objecting to it via the council’s planning portal comments section, Mrs Brown said it “made a mockery of the planning system”.

She added: “The applicant has a history of doing this and seems to think that the best way to achieve what they want is to build it first then apply for planning afterwards. I find it a concerning precedent.”

Regarding the Cask N Tandoor, SDC had originally granted Mr Singh planning permission for a new building to replace a timber shed that would feature two new en suite bedrooms and a plant room, but instead he opened the pub last March. The pub’s footprint was twice the size he had permission for: 117 sq m rather than 54 sq m.

It also has an outdoor terrace leading up to Shottery Brook.

Mr Singh’s subsequent retrospective planning permission was made in August – five months after the pub opened.

Those vehemently objecting to the pub included residents, Stratford Town Council, and Sheldon Bosley Knight on behalf of Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (SBT), who originally owned the building.

The trust has been particularly aggrieved that the new development has encroached onto its land, which it claims has been damaged, and it is now taking legal action.

A lawyer working on behalf of the trust said that Mr Singh had also breached a covenant which restricted development in the area.

When they turned down the application, planning officers pointed to six major issues with the new building work related to the pub, including concerns over biodiversity, the impact on the river-bank and failure to preserve or enhance the character and appearance of the conservation area, which also encompasses Anne Hathaway’s Cottage.

Following the refusal, the council told the Herald it was considering enforcement – which could possibly result in the demolition of the pub. Planning officers have confirmed this is ongoing.

However, speaking to a national newspaper, Burnside Hotel manager Minty Manhas said Mr Singh, formerly an officer with the Indian army, was undaunted by the threat of legal action.

She said: “My boss Mr Singh has no intention of demolishing the pub, why would he?”

She also made allegations of racism, telling a reporter: “Brown skin and black skin may not sit well in this very white, middle-class village.”

However, proving the old saying that there’s no such thing as bad publicity, Ms Manhas said the controversy over the pub had actually been good for business.

“More locals have come to have a look, they’ve had a meal and they’ve loved it,” she added.

Not everyone looks to be converted by dinner though, no matter how delicious.

Adding her objections to the latest application for the kitchen and store room extension, Rosemary Winter-Scott, another neighbour, said: “The extension is an ugly addition to the building which impacts on the overall aesthetics of an old building that is part of a conservation area. The retrospective nature of this application is further evidence of the disregard the owner has for the normal planning processes.”

Mr Singh is the director of two other local businesses. This includes chauffeur service Unicorn Cars, which is over a year late filing its confirmation statement, and he is also the sole director of property company Raiman UK Ltd.

He bought the 1-6 Church Lane from the SBT for £1.25million in 2016.

Formerly a large house – believed once to have been a tannery – at the time of the sale it was six separate flats, but the new owner got permission to turn it into a 22-bedroom bed and breakfast in the same year he bought it.

Since then Mr Singh has made ten further planning applications, most of which have either been turned down or withdrawn – including refusal of a restaurant extension back in 2018, and two other partly retrospective applications for work already done.

The original article has been corrected as it stated Unicorn Cars was over a year late filing its accounts, when it was the company confirmation statement which is late. We apologise for this mistake.