David,
sorry to say that you, or your advisors have rather bought this upon yourselves.
When you buy any commercial premises, it is incumbant upon you to, or employ advisors to, check that the proper permission is in place to allow you to continue to use or establish the business that you want to establish or continue running.
This comes up time and time again within the G.A community - a lack of proper business acumen and a folorn hope that getting a few messages of support from well intended supporters will sway the planners.
I do hope you that you win the appeal, but I must say that if you don't, you've only got yourselves to balme.