The Greater Manchester restaurant selling £180 gold-leaf covered steaks that's about to double in size

A restaurant selling £180 steaks wrapped in 24 carat gold leaf has won a long-running planning battle to more than double its capacity. Bolton Council originally rejected an application by Beefalo Meat House, Blackburn Road, to increase capacity from 90 to 225 people. 

However, after the restaurant’s owners appealed, the planning inspectorate have overturned that decision. In 2022, 113 residents lodged objections to the move citing health and safety concerns, noise at night and parking issues.

Bolton’s planning committee later turned down the application. The restaurant was forced to close in March 2023, after a major fire extensively damaged the roof, only reopening in November after lengthy repairs and renovation.

Beefalo offers a variety of meat, seafood and vegetable dishes but it’s ‘gold cuts’ section of menu sets it apart from most. A ‘golden burger’ is listed as costing £50 while a 24 carat gold leaf covered one kilo ‘golden’ tomahawk steak will set diners back £180.

The swanky restaurant opened in 2021 opposite Asda and is run by chef Yuce, who previously launched Macello Meathouse and Kassap Meathouse in Liverpool. The Bolton outlet’s website states: “They have attracted many celebrities and become a regular spot for many Liverpool FC players. “Now, chef Yuce is bringing his famous steak dishes with his own technique to Bolton, with a new brand, Beefalo Meat House.”

The restaurant is on the corner of Blackburn Road and Newnham Street within the Astley Bridge shopping area. To the rear of the appeal site is St Paul’s Church and a school and a nursery.

The planning inspectorate appeal decision was published earlier this month. Inspector K Townend, said: “The site is within a local centre where food and drink uses are promoted and encouraged. Customer arrivals and departures would be likely to be spread across the opening hours and the potential increase in parking pressure would, therefore, be limited.

“The appellant suggests that when bookings are made the venue will advise customers of suitable places to park and that this would include not parking outside residential premises. For these reasons I am not persuaded that the increase in customer numbers would cause any significant detrimental harm to the living conditions of properties in the area or that the displacement of parking to a wider area and the associated increase in foot traffic would increase noise to an unacceptable extent.”