A cafe and restaurant which has applied for a late licence has been accused of running an illegal shisha lounge.

Hookahs Campus House in Hey Street, Bradford, has applied to play music and sell food until 1am daily.

But a council officer said he saw shisha pipes being smoked illegally at the cafe, and said he would “strongly object” to the application being granted.

Environmental health officer Abdullah Hans said after the application went in, he and a student officer arranged to visit the business, but “when we entered we noted three shisha pipes in use inside the premises, which were fully enclosed”.

Mr Hans said they were spoken to by a man who refused to give his name, or the names of the business owners.

He said: “Then another member of staff came and joined him, at which point we decided to leave the premises, and on our way out of the front door the other gentleman told us not to bother them again, as they had been open for two months and were not interested in anything we had to say.”

He said by not providing the name of the owner, the two staff members were breaking the law, while the smoking they had witnessed was against the Health Act 2006.

Hookahs’ agent, Yeme Limited, was unavailable for comment, but in its application, the firm said the music would be “kept to a reasonable level”, CCTV would protect against crime and an attendant would be on-duty at all times.

The application will be considered by the Bradford District Licensing Panel when it meets on Monday at City Hall, Bradford.