Hartlepool restaurant which closed due to rising costs 'of pretty much everything' may reopen nearby

An application for a new premises licence for Spices has been submitted to Hartlepool Borough Council, which seeks to allow the Indian eatery to operate at unit 3 in Navigation Point.

It comes after the restaurant, which previously had a home at 16-18 Navigation Point, released a statement in January stating it was closing after 22 years “due to costs continually rising”.

However, it said it was “hoping to relocate and reopen in the near future”.

If the new licence application, submitted by Nazim Uddin, is approved it would pave the way for the Indian restaurant to open at its doors at the new location.

The document is seeking permission to allow the site to serve food for consumption inside and provide takeaways until midnight each day.

If approved, it would also allow the restaurant to sell alcohol from noon until 11.45pm six days a week, with the exception being Sunday, when it would stop serving at 11.15pm.

The application adds CCTV would be in place, along with security on Fridays and Saturdays, to ensure licensing objectives were fulfilled.

In a statement posted by Spices on social media on January 6, announcing the closure of its old home, it said it would be “back with a bang in the near future”.

It said: “It’s with a heavy heart we need to announce that after 22 years we decided to close our doors for the last time this past New Year’s Day.

“Due to the costs continually rising of pretty much everything we have exhausted every option available for us to stay open and keep the price reasonable for our customers and it’s just impossible now.

“We want to thank all of our loyal customers that have dined with us all of these years, new and old.

“Moving forward we are hoping to relocate and reopen in the near future and hope to see you all return.”

The post added that it had also been impacted by the increase in parking charges at the Marina, which came into place in June 2022.

The proposed new site was previously home to Caribbean restaurant Kilimanjaro.