From the website of the Central Stockport Area Committee, announcing a meeting on 14 October:
At the next meeting on 14 October 2010, the following issues will be considered…
14 items are then listed; at number 4 we find:
A retrospective Planning application (DC044716) for the retention of extraction vent to front of shop at 159 Adswood Road, Cale Green – recommendation grant.
So far so boring – but a local resident named Graham Webb-Lee showed up to make an objection. The Daily Mail reports:
‘The vent is 12 inches from my front door. Every morning the smell of bacon comes through and makes me physically sick.
‘I have a lot of Muslim friends. They refuse to visit me anymore because they can’t stand the smell of bacon.’
He also mentioned “a daughter with an eating disorder” and a supposed odour on his clothes (His description of the position of the vent can be confirmed by looking on Google Street View). Consequently:
A spokesman for Stockport Council said: ‘The retrospective application was rejected on the grounds of residential amenity, as the committee felt the odours given off from the vent were unacceptable for neighbouring residents.
The inevitable headline, of course:
Cafe owner ordered to remove extractor fan ‘because smell of frying bacon offends Muslims’
This was later amended to:
Cafe owner ordered to remove extractor fan because neighbour claimed ‘smell of frying bacon offends Muslims’
And it’s off around the world:
Beverley Akciecek, de 49 años, abnegada cocinera y propietaria del “Snack Shack”, un local donde sirven comida para llevar en Manchester, no se puede creer todavía la carta del Ayuntamiento donde la ordenan derribar su extractor de humos porque el olor del bacon y panceta a la plancha “ofende” a sus vecinos musulmanes. Los inspectores municipales…
Plus:
Sur ordre de la municipalité, le gérant d’une sandwicherie doit désinstaller une hotte aspirante car “l’odeur du bacon offense les musulmans”…
And:
Einer Imbissbuden-Eigentümerin aus England ist befohlen worden, einen Dunstabzug zu entfernen, weil der Geruch von gebratenem Speck Moslems missfällt.
Planungschefs der Stadt handelten gegen Beverley Akciecek (49), weil sich muslimische Nachbarn wegen des “stinkenden Geruchs” physisch krank fühlten…
With doubtless more to come – US anti-mosque demagogue Pamela Geller is on the case, predictably opining that
The world is descending into madness accommodating the most radical, intolerant ideology in the world.
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