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Councillor Wally Burgess, Christine Rawson, Cllr Ursula Woolley, Kathleen Greaves, Cllr Janet Burgess, Cllr Tracy Ismail and Mayor of Islington Cllr Stefan Kasprzyk outside the Town Hall on Wednesday |
Anarchy in Islington? Noisy pub has its licence revoked
Landlord ordered to close his doors after a ‘raft of complaints’
THE Town Hall this week stripped a Tufnell Park pub of its licence after hearing tales of late night parties, drunken violence and “anarchy”.
Tufnells, in Tufnell Park Road, which has been voluntarily closed for more than a month, can no longer trade as a pub until a new licence application is made.
A bizarre meeting of the Town Hall’s licensing panel on Wednesday descended into confusion as Tufnells’ landlord, Howard Mendoza, announced he had sold the pub that morning.
After some deliberation and protest from objectors, it was decided to press ahead with a review of the licence as held by Mr Mendoza.
The review was called by the council’s noise team following a raft of complaints, and was backed up by Islington Police.
One person, who kept a noise diary, wrote of June 6: “Total anarchy! All night rave/ psychedelic event. Music went on forever.”
Then on July 17 they wrote: “A rowdy event that seemed to turn bad. All the customers ended up on the forecourt after being ejected and they didn’t leave or move on... We repeatedly called the police explaining there were fights breaking out.”
Tufnells was also subject to licence review last year.
Two of the council’s three licensing panel members, Councillors Stefan Kasprzyk and Tracy Ismail, had to be replaced for the hearing as they joined ward councillors Ursula Woolley and Janet and Walley Burgess on the objectors bench.
PC Don Stewart, representing licensing officer Sergeant Graham Henry, asked for Mr Mendoza’s opening hours to be pulled back to midnight in light of the number of calls police have had to respond to Tufnells after 12. He added: “We believe that after-hours sales were going on.”
Junction ward councillor Janet Burgess, who spoke on behalf of residents, said: “Most people would like a nice pub there. We want a closing time of 11pm. Our part of London is not part of the 24-hour economy. You will have had many representations from residents affected by the noise and violence.”
Cllr Woolley, who also represents Junction ward, said: “Residents have been subjected to persistent disturbance for many years. The management are clearly well aware of this. The excuses are extraordinary, laughable. [Management claim] ‘The noise limiter was stolen from the premises’ – that sounds like something one of my young sons would say. You can still turn the volume down. This is a road we’ve been down before and it’s exhausting. These residents need peace and quiet now.”
But landlord Mr Mendoza blamed the problems on a manager he has since fired.
He said: “Virtually every complaint relates to when he was there. This man didn’t sleep. He had friends all around London. He used to invite them to my pub. He used to give his friends my drinks.”
He added: “The reality is that the premises has been haemorrhaging money. From a financial point of view it’s imperative that the premises has a late licence. It’s not financially viable to close at 11pm or 12.”
But despite his plea, councillors decided to withdraw Mr Mendoza’ license altogether.
Cllr Barry Edwards, who was on the panel, said: “We noted that the problems continued after the previous review. We felt it was not acceptable and so we had to revoke the licence. We thought, in light of all the evidence there wasn’t much else we could do.” |
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