A DECISION to reject a new KFC but accept a bar and restaurant in the same area of the city centre has been branded as snobbery by a council chief.

Councillor Chris Mitchell, chairman of the city council’s planning committee, said the decision to reject the popular fast food restaurant from taking over a building in The Cross but allow a new bar and restaurant in Foregate “smacked of classism.”

He said: “I genuinely struggle to understand why a KFC is immediately rejected but a restaurant 30 yards the other way is welcomed. All I see is a massive lack of inconsistency.

“The new restaurant will actually be serving alcohol.

“People who have been in a restaurant drinking alcohol are apparently less likely to cause trouble than somebody who has hopped into KFC for a chicken burger.

“KFC is a restaurant too.The fact that you may not be using a knife and fork doesn’t mean it’s not a restaurant.”

A decision on the KFC was made at Thursday’s (October 18) planning meeting after it was delayed for a month to allow councillors to visit the city centre at night. Councillors rejected the plan by six votes to four.

At the same meeting, councillors backed the new restaurant and bar in Foregate unanimously.

It will sit in a grade II-listed building on the corner of Foregate and Sansome Street and will be run by Two Crafty Brewers, which also own the Lamb and Flag in The Tything.

The building was previously occupied by Individual Tailoring and has lain empty for more than 18 months.

The ground floor will have a bar and space for around 50 covers to serve food and snacks – including room for 20 people outside in the Hopmarket courtyard. A further 56 covers would be fitted in a sit-down basement restaurant.

Following objections from neighbours over noise, tables and chairs from the outdoor seating area would have to be removed by 6pm and not put out on Sundays and Bank Holidays. Visitors to the restaurant would also not be able to smoke in the courtyard.

The KFC application was already marked for rejection by city council planners on the grounds it breached an objective in the South Worcestershire Development Plan to “create and sustain” a vibrant city centre coupled with fears it would increase crime and anti-social behaviour in an area already burned with high levels of disorder.

West Mercia Police shared major concerns over the KFC calling it a “recipe for disaster” due to its location in a high-crime area but had no problems with the restaurant in Foregate and supported the application.

Public Health bosses at Worcestershire County Council were also apprehensive of the KFC and said another takeaway in an area crammed with fast food outlets would intensify obesity problems in the city and cause more disruption in a part of the city centre riddled with crime and bad behaviour.