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Fast-food restaurant loses 5am appeal
THE McDonald’s restaurant in Leicester Square has had its application to extend opening hours until 5am rejected.
The ruling at Westminster Magistrates’ Court last week follows a three-day appeal from McDonald’s, which had its first bid refused by the council’s licensing committee after objections from the police.
Police officers and councillors feared that extending closing time by two hours from 3am to 5am would encourage revellers to hang around in Leicester Square and cause trouble after leaving nightclubs, rather than going home.
At the hearing, police presented evidence of disorder occurring immediately after closing at 3.30am and told the court how this would be exacerbated if the restaurant was allowed to stay open for longer.
DCI Cunneen, from Westminster Serious Violence Team, said: “This is definitely the right decision. McDonald’s in Leicester Square is a well-managed premises but extending their opening hours would have meant more customers, many of whom would have been drinking, creating opportunities for violence and disorder and making the whole area a real drain on police resources.”
At the same hearing, an application to extend McDonald’s opening hours at the Shaftesbury Avenue branch from midnight until 2am was also refused for similar reasons. |
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