AN award-winning West End tearoom could be forced to close because of a planning row.

Cup, a 40 seat venue in Byres Road, faces possible closure after the owner Paul Reynolds was told he was breaching the rules.

At the moment, the premises has class one planning consent, meaning it must be run as a shop.

Food and drink outlets need class three planning permission.

Mr Reynolds has applied to change the planning consent to allow Cup to continue trading.

But city council officials have recommended the application be refused - despite 179 letters from people supporting the business.

Tomorrow, councillors will hear the history of the site and make a decision.

Cup, which opened in 2010, employs 14 staff and operates a successful apprenticeship programme.

However it has fallen foul of the city council's policy guidelines for the area.

They say only 20% of businesses in the street can operate as anything other than shops.

If the figure is higher than 20% the council will refuse to allow any class one shops to be turned into restaurants or banks.

A recent survey of Byres Road found the percentage of non shops was 34.4% or 14.4% higher than the policy allows.

A report to councillors says: "The vitality and viability of Partick/Byres Road relies on a mixture of uses which are controlled through planning

"The use of this unit as a cafe reduces the retail offering to the detriment of the area."

Mr Reynolds insisted he was trying to stay positive in advance of the committee decision.

He said: "Hopefully we will get the permission because, otherwise, I will not be able to operate from that unit.

"Because there is an under supply of retail on Byres Road they are having a go at us.

"I can understand why they want more retail but the marketplace has changed massively in the past five years.

"I am staying positive because we have had really good support from our community."

vivienne.nicoll@ eveningtimes.co.uk