A popular city centre Asian restaurant will open a new karaoke room and extend its opening hours in a bid to attract more diners. 

Happiness 2, on North Road, Durham, is set to expand after licensing officers at Durham County Council approved a raft of changes to the business. 

The restaurant’s opening hours have now been extended to stay open until 2:30am every day of the week, with alcohol sold on site until 2am.

The business has also received permission to show films between 11am and 2:30am. 

It comes as bosses at Happiness 2 submitted an application to Durham County Council’s licensing department for the ground floor to trade as a restaurant and change the layout of the first and second floor, to add karaoke rooms.

It means the capacity will be reduced by around 50 per cent, paving the way for a change in trading style from a nightclub to restaurant and karaoke rooms.

Plans submitted to the authority suggest the ground floor will operate as a restaurant, with bar facilities in a predominantly seated area. The food will shift from the current Chinese cuisine to Korean food with a focus on at-table bbq food. 

Bosses say the unique selling point of this restaurant is the customers will be able to bbq/grill their own food at their table.

Upstairs, the first and second floor will be entertainment driven, with karaoke rooms and a bar area with a small food/snack offering. Both drink and food will be served direct to the karaoke rooms, as well as in the common seating area around the bar.

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The City of Durham Parish Council had initially objected to the proposal on the basis that the extended opening hours would impact residents. 

A statement read: “There are no fewer than 99 residential properties within a 100m radius of the application site. Far more than when the license was first given to this location.

"The residents of these properties have a reasonable expectation to a quiet night’s sleep and therefore allowing this premises to open later and beyond the framework hours would be unacceptable.”

However, the parish council later withdrew its objection and the licensing change was approved by the Durham County Council.