Saving Indian Home Diner

For years, Oxford St’s Indian Home Diner has been the late-night choice of drunken snackers and evening workers across the neighbourhood. But now the diner is being forced to close at midnight rather than its traditional 3am, under orders from Woollahra Council.

A campaign has kicked off to “save” the Paddington institution, with popular instagram account @sydney_lines, which is usually dedicated to documenting nightclub deals and queues, trying to keep the diner open after midnight on Friday and Saturday nights.

The account, which has 49,000 followers, has launched a Change.org petition and a Go Fund Me page “to compensate IHDs lost revenue from the reduced hours until normal operating hours are returned.” The accounts adds that “a donation of $12.50 is just like buying a #5 after the Unicorn”.

According to Bondi Lines: “Indian Home Diner (IHD) holds a very special place in all our hearts. Its hand crafted Indian cuisine (is) made with love you can taste (which) makes it the premier late night food hub in the world. Although most famous for it’s #5 Garlic Cheese Naan Kebab with Alloo Chop, it is more than just a restaurant, it is a community.

“The council has just reduced IHDs operating hours to a midnight finish. Not only will you be deprived of your last meal of the night, but there will no longer be the community that is IHD.”

The plight of the famed diner has attracted the attention of campaigning federal politicians, with Dave Shama replying to the post that: “This is a tragedy. I will fight to restore IHD hours!”

Sharma’s Independent rival Allegra Spender also contributed to the debate, saying: “Business was hit hard enough during COVID and even though I haven’t been to The Unicorn for a while even I know Indian Home Diner is a national treasure. Let’s save it.”

As of Friday morning, the Go Fund Me account had attracted $140 in donations, while the petition had more than 3500 signatures.

Punters seem as outraged as Bondi Lines about the early closure of IHD, with many expressing outrage on the instagram page.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, IHD had been trading until 3am illegally.

“A month ago, Woollahra Council rejected (owner Robert) Chowdury’s bid to officially extend his trading hours to 3am on Friday and Saturday nights. It appears the diner had been operating until 3am in breach of its DA conditions – without an issue – for years,” the paper reported.

“The DA refusal notice mentioned the kebab joint could have an ‘adverse impact upon the acoustic and visual privacy of neighbouring lands’, and declared the provision of late-night sustenance was ‘not in the public interest’. It is unknown if the council received complaints about noise.

“The council warned Chowdury that, if he continued to stay open too late, he would be fined.”

A Woollahra Council spokesperson told Local Paddo but has not yet responded.

“In March 2020 the Indian Home Diner was granted an extension to its operating hours, enabling it to trade until 3am on Friday and Saturday nights during a 12-month trial period, on the basis that the owner implement crowd management and litter patrols to protect the amenity of nearby residents,” the spokesperson said.

“In April 2021 Council was made aware that the Diner was continuing to trade until 3am, beyond the expiration of the trial period.

“We have since been in ongoing contact with the owner, and advised that a new DA and improved compliance with crowd guidelines would be required to permanently extend operating hours.

“A new DA was lodged in November 2021, which was refused by Council in March due to a failure to demonstrate satisfactory crowd management.

“We understand the owner is considering appealing this decision, which would be reviewed as part of the DA process.”

If you would like to sign the petition find it here: change.org

And the Go Fund Me page is here.