One last chance for Devizes kebab van man
Bulut Turak had breached his trading licence - but he's been handed a final lifeline by Wiltshire Council
The operator of a Devizes kebab van has been given one last chance to keep trading.
Bulut Turak breached the conditions of his licence, including opening early, trading into the early hours, and leaving his car park pitch to trade in the town’s historic Market Place.
When a temporary licence expired, Mr Turak was refused an extension. He appealed against the decision.
And at a meeting of Wiltshire Council’s licensing sub-committee on Wednesday (February 4) councillors decided to give Mr Turak one last chance.
He has been granted a temporary licence to trade at Central Car Park in Devizes between the hours of 6pm and 2am seven days a week.
The committee said that although their own officer had demonstrated sufficient grounds for the decision not to grant a permanent licence, they acknowledged that no issues relating to anti-social behaviour or littering – concerns that had been expressed by Devizes Town Council during the initial consultation on the application – had been reported.
In evidence, the committee heard that Mr Turak, trading as Royal Kebabs, was awarded a three-month trial licence in January 2025. He promised to contact the council when he began trading.
In July 2025, Devizes Town Council made a complaint that a trader was operating in Central Car Park under the name Marmaris Kebabs. After investigation, it was established that the trader was Mr Turak.
Wiltshire Council agreed to begin Mr Turak’s three-month trial from October 2025.
In September, the council was sent photographic evidence that Mr Turak was serving customers at 2.20 am – well past the 11pm end time allowed under the conditions of the licence.
When the council challenged Mr Turak, he told officers he “didn’t realise it was such a crime.” He told officers the customer was drunk and he wanted to avoid confrontation.
He was not able to explain why the customer was served more than an hour and a half after Mr Turak was supposed to have shut up shop.
When in October 2025 Mr Turak was found to be serving customers before 6pm, he was offered an extension of his three-month trial. Later that month he was photographed trading from Devizes Market Place.
After his licence expired in January 2026, Mr Turak was witnessed by Wiltshire Council officers trading on two consecutive nights.
The trader was told he would not be granted a further licence. He lodged his appeal two days later.
The committee accepted that some breaches of trading conditions could be put down to “misunderstandings and errors that were not repeated once brought to his attention.”
But he was told that the new six-month licence was his “final opportunity to demonstrate his ability to comply with the relevant legislation” and under the terms of the licence.