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Film director
calls 'cut' on late bar bid
Neighbours fear impact of midnight drinks on street
A FILM director has spelled out his fears over a Hampstead
pub’s plans to stay open later.
Uri Fruchtmann, a director at Ealing Studios and a founder of
Fragile Films, the company behind the hit Spice Girls movie
Spiceworld, is among objectors to a late licence application
by the Freemasons Arms in Downshire Hill.
Bosses at the popular gastro-pub want to keep serving alcohol
for an extra hour, until midnight, every night apart from Sunday.
Residents in surrounding streets have deluged licensing chiefs
with protests.
In his objection, Mr Fruchtmann, a near-neighbour, says: “Hampstead
already has more than enough gastro-pubs and restaurants and
the Freemasons is already very successful commercially and cannot
ignore strong local concerns.”
He adds: “The Freemasons attracts a huge clientele to a
quiet residential street in a conservation area.
“Its proposed licence extension will have an enormous and
detrimental effect on the neighbourhood, congesting already
over-full parking bays, bringing unwanted traffic to the area.”
Members of the Heath and Hampstead Society, the area’s
largest amenity group, have also objected.
Society chairman Anthony Hillier, who lives in Downshire Hill,
has written to the Town Hall with his own protest.
He says: “The extra time will cause nuisance as the customers
disperse through the streets to find their cars and wait for
minicabs.”
The pub, which recently angered neighbours by unveiling plans
to build an extension, insists that extra opening hours will
not mean extra nuisance.
A statement from Landmark Leisure, which runs the Freemasons,
said: “Reasonable steps are taken to recognise the rights
of residents and to encourage customers to leave quietly.
“The garden is cleared of customers by 10.30pm. During
the final hour of trading, alcohol shall be restricted to persons
who are partaking of substantial refreshment in areas set aside
for table meals.”
Licensing chiefs are due to question the applicants and objectors
next Friday afternoon before reaching a final decision on the
licence bid. |
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