A 50-seat shisha lounge with a retractable roof has been built behind 225-229 Regents Park Road without permission. Barnet's site notice runs to 24 September; decision due by 19 October.

A restaurant on Regents Park Road in Finchley is asking Barnet Council to approve a rear extension it has already built. The council describes it as a shisha lounge with 50 extra seats and a retractable roof.

The retrospective application, reference 26/3101/RCU, was validated on Monday 24 August. It covers 225 to 229 Regents Park Road, N3 3LD. That address is given as its own by Lavia Restaurant, which advertises opening hours to midnight six nights a week and to 1am on Sundays.

Two descriptions of one building

The council’s register describes the scheme as a “single storey rear extension to provide 50 additional seating. Use of the rear extension as a shisha lounge including retractable roof.”

The applicant’s own documents describe something quieter. The planning statement says the extension “allows improved commercial floor layout” and a “rationalised kitchen/service arrangement”. It says the work “does not introduce a materially different or intensified use beyond what is lawful”. Neither the planning statement nor the design and access statement uses the words “shisha”, “seating” or “retractable”.

The planning statement also carries a line that reads as an unfinished template: “Whilst borough-specific policy references should be inserted where required”.

The application form records:

  • work started on 1 May 2025 and finished on 11 August 2025
  • the site area is 230.33 square metres
  • the agent is Sera Homes Ltd of Brentford
  • the extension is at the “ground floor rear of the building”

Retrospective applications are judged on the same tests as any other. The council cannot refuse a scheme because it was built first, but it can refuse it on its merits and then take enforcement action.

Timeline of planning decisions at 225 to 229 Regents Park Road: kitchen extension approved June 2010, time extension approved July 2013, rear office building refused 2023, beauty studio refused November 2023, first shisha application withdrawn June 2026, second application validated August 2026 with decision due 19 October 2026
Graphic by Barnet Live

Second attempt this year

This is the second time the same description has reached the register. An earlier application, 26/0707/RCU, was validated on 24 February 2026 with an identical description. A site notice went up on 4 June. The application was withdrawn on 15 June, before a decision.

The site has a longer history of refusals for buildings at the back:

  • 23/4151/FUL, a single-storey beauty and nail studio behind 225 to 227, refused on 21 November 2023
  • 23/2588/FUL, a part single, part two-storey office building on the same land, received in June 2023 and also refused
  • F/01318/10, a rear kitchen and storage extension for the restaurant, approved on 7 June 2010, with a time extension approved on 18 July 2013

The applicant’s planning statement cites the 2010 and 2013 consents as showing that “rear extensions at ground floor level have previously been considered acceptable in principle at this site”. It does not mention the two 2023 refusals.

Dates that matter

  • Site notice posted: Thursday 3 September
  • Site notice expires: Thursday 24 September
  • Determination deadline: Monday 19 October
  • Comments received so far: none, as of 27 August

The case officer is Christian Gonito. The ward is Finchley Church End. Comments can be made through the Barnet planning portal.

What it means for you

  • If you live behind or above the parade at the southern end of Regents Park Road, this is the window to say what the extension is like in use: noise, smoke, hours. The council’s own description, not the applicant’s, is what officers will assess.
  • A retractable roof matters for planning because an open-roofed seating area is treated differently for noise and smoke than an enclosed kitchen.
  • Whatever the decision, it will not change the restaurant’s licence. Licensing is a separate register.
  • Other applications near you are on our Barnet planning applications page, and parking rules for the parade are on parking in Barnet.

Barnet Live has not named the applicant, a private individual, in line with our policy. The business at the address is named because it publishes the address itself.