By Mollie Hinds
People who live and work in Narborough Road are eager to see the final completion of redevelopment work on a takeaway shop destroyed in an explosion 14 years ago.
The body of Fiaz Ahmed Ansari was found in the basement following the explosion In August 2011 at the Kams King of the Grill kebab shop in Leicester. It later emerged the explosion was a part of an insurance scam which went wrong.
Shahbaz Khan and Mehwish Yasin, from Birmingham, were sentenced to eight years in jail after being found guilty of manslaughter following a trial in 2012 at Leicester Crown Court.
Plans were submitted in October 2023 to Leicester City Council to clear the debris and build a three-storey building on the site.
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, approval had previously been granted in 2018 for a scheme that would have seen a two-storey building constructed on the site with a takeaway below and a flat above, but that work was never completed.
In a report about the most recent plans, the council’s planning committee said: “Commercial use of the ground and first floors with [a] flat above would be welcomed.”
It is intended the upstairs of the building is also going to be created into a flat.
It is unlikely the space is going to be a takeaway anytime soon, but officers said this could change in the future. The report said they are aware and have included multiple conditions to ensure the safety of the residents and that they are not “unduly disturbed”.
Residents are hoping the half-finished work will finally get completed in 2026.
Jennifer Morris, 30, of nearby Livingstone Street, said: “I’m looking forward to being what it may become.
“There have been rumblings of what it could be, but it is taking a while to do it. They started to do it roughly at the end of 2023 but not much has happened really. There is a structure but that is it really.”
Scott Cobden, 53, owns the Cobden & Sons vape shop, on the opposite side of Narborough Road, which was previously an antique shop when the explosion happened.
He said: “It’s about time something was done with it. What happened was sad, but it was left a mess for a long time.”
The residents of Narborough Road and surrounding are welcoming the change enthusiastically as the community is eager to embrace the new chapter.
