A sandwich shop will lose its chance to make a crust unless the Council backs down over a licence wrangle.

Susan Barnes has been running Tummy Rumbles in Wibsey High Street with her daughter Stacey for the past five years on a licence she inherited from its past owner.

But it was only when Bradford Council turned down her bid to turn the back of the shop into a cafe that it was discovered she had the wrong licence to serve hot food.

Mrs Barnes said: “We thought it was a general licence to do food that we already had. We didn’t realise it was only for cold food. It was an honest mistake. We’ve tried to get the right kind of licence three times now but they keep saying no.’’ Last week Mrs Barnes was told her appeal against the planners’ decision not to grant an A5 licence had proved unsuccessful – despite a 280-name petition supporting her.

Bradford Council says that to get the right A5 licence the shop needs to be fitted with an extractor fan.

Mrs Barnes said: “We understand that but it’ll cost £1,000 to put one in. I’m happy to pay for that but only if we know we’ll definitely get the licence but they won’t guarantee that. I don’t know what to do.

“The Council’s sent us a letter saying if we keep serving hot food they could come any day and stop us.

‘‘Hot food is three-quarters of the business so if we can’t sell it there’s no point to us being here.

“If we close, the Council will be ruining our livelihood, getting rid of four jobs and depriving Wibsey of a shop that’s very popular.”

Mark Hutchinson, senior planning officer at Bradford Council, said: ‘‘If the applicant has made a genuine attempt to address the odour problem identified by the Government Planning Inspector at the appeal, then we will be able to consider a further planning application in this instance.

‘‘However, it is possible that the application will be decided by the Bradford Area Planning Panel, which is comprised of councillors who will take into account all objections and support for the application before making an independent decision.

‘‘Planning officers cannot pre-judge the outcome of the panel's decision.’’ Mrs Barnes said she felt even more confused because Bradford planners had given permission for a furniture shop next door to be converted into a take-away, selling hot food from 11am to 8pm.

She claimed: “There isn’t an extractor fan in there yet either!”