Neighbours objected after restaurant and shisha bar Smoky Lounge in Mayes Road, Wood Green, applied to Haringey Council to extend its opening hours
Councillors have granted a new premises licence, allowing it to open from 8am to 12am from Sunday to Thursday, and 8am to 1am on Fridays and Saturdays.
This is an average of 30-minutes less than the hours asked for but still longer than the current hours. Under its previous licence the bar opened from 4pm during the week and 2pm at weekends.
The premises can now sell alcohol from 10am to 11.30pm from Sunday to Thursday and 10am to 12.30am at the weekend.
The council’s licensing sub-committee had heard strong objections from neighbours in Mayes Road, worried about the longer hours leading to more noise and potential antisocial behaviour.
One neighbour, Bryan Barnes, described the years of “nonsense” he’d experienced living next to the premises, adding he had heard noise from inside his house, and said no neighbour in attendance wanted to see the licence extended “under any circumstances”.
Sheith Subrattee said the roof area at the back of the premises, which features a shisha bar, was a “problem area” for noise, and the owners, despite receiving complaints, had not done anything about it.
Neighbours described feeling as if their concerns were ignored not only by the owners but by the council.
Mr Barnes said when the council’s noise team visited after a complaint, the officer either missed it or said it wasn’t loud enough.
But the committee felt the applicant was “entitled to succeed” if they could satisfy the panel. Despite the volume of complaints the committee stated the noise team had not been able to validate all of them.
In its decision notice issued this week, the committee stated the roof-top shisha bar must close at 10.30pm.
The applicant had sought a later closing time but the committee, under advice from the noise team, felt the objective of avoiding public nuisance through noise would be met by the earlier time.
A member of staff, trained in operating CCTV, must be present at the venue at all times, and a noise limiter must be fitted to the musical amplification system and set at a level determined by and to the satisfaction of the noise team.
The notice added that all sound-generating equipment used on the premises must be routed through the sound limiter device.
The applicant must also provide a dedicated hotline for residents to make complaints and the external area fronting the premises will be closed from 9pm.
The Metropolitan Police had raised concerns around drugs but said adhering to a satisfactory written zero tolerance drugs policy would suffice.
