No.17 Mundesley could be shut down for not having a toilet

No.17 in Mundesley has been told to install a customer toilet by North Norfolk District Council after its owners increased the number of seats at the café without permission.

Legally, businesses serving food or drink with 10 or more seats must have a toilet for customers - but council officers found almost double the number of seats at No.17 during a recent inspection.

However, the owners say it’s “loo-dicrous” as there is a public toilet block just yards away from the Beach Road café on the opposite side of the road. 

The team at No.17 - including owners Oliver and Laura Deakin (Image: No.17)

North Norfolk District Council says the owners, couple Oliver and Laura Deakin, are no longer running the café as a takeaway as agreed when they first registered the business last year.

No.17 opened in August 2023, moving into the former The View restaurant, which had a customer toilet that was removed when it was split into two units - becoming the café and a holiday let.  

Tim Adams, leader of the council, said: “In the application to have a food premises they said there would be a maximum of ten covers, but now they want more so that declaration isn’t accurate.

“They no longer want to be predominantly a takeaway.

“There's a fairly simple solution which is for them to reduce the number of seats.

“The requirements are established in law so we can’t deviate from that. We’re carrying out our regulatory duty to enforce standards.”

No.17 Mundesley, which opened in the former The View restaurant in Beach Road last year, is just yards away from a public toilet block across the road (far right) (Image: Google Maps)

READ MORE: Children 'not allowed to go to the toilet' in row over school's vaping crackdown

Tim Adams, North Norfolk District Council (NNDC) leader (Image: NNDC)

The council says Mr and Mrs Deakin have asked whether the staff toilet at the back of the café could be used for customers as well. 

"You can't have a customer going through a kitchen to get to a toilet," Mr Adams said. 

He also said the public toilets customers currently have to use may not always be open if they ever had to be refurbished or repaired by the council. 

The owners have been contacted for further comment. 

No.17's owners, couple Oliver and Laura Deakin (Image: Oliver Deakin)