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Reverend Jennifer Porter |
Victory for residents in fear of sleaze factor
Town Hall planners reject nightclub’s application
A NIGHTCLUB’S hopes to stay open until the early hours have been dashed after neighbours complained it was helping turn Finsbury into an area of sleaze.
Councillors on last week’s Town Hall licensing panel threw out an application by Piya Piya, in City Road, for permission to open until 3am on weekdays and 4am on Fridays.
The Clerkenwell club’s request prompted a deluge of letters of objection, mostly from the luxury 96-flat Lexington Apartments, and caused many to put their names to a petition in protest.
Piya Piya’s management also asked to increase the club’s capacity from 140 to 400.
The Reverend Jennifer Potter, of Wesley’s Chapel, a few doors away from the club, has welcomed the panel’s decision.
“I hope it’s a victory for common sense,” she said.
“But the jury is now out on whether the existing hours and numbers of people is managed by the club.
“The real problem for the people of Lexington is the people going out on to the streets to hail taxis and have a cigarette. However, things have been a little bit better from our perspective.”
Among the letters of objection was a plea from Professor Norman Miller, who said his four-year-old daughter had suffered badly.
“The bass component of the music is particularly distressing,” he said. “A few times we have moved into our reception room, on the other side of the building, to sleep on the sofa... Our little girl of four years has found the noise very distressing, holding her ears and pleading that we do something about it.”
And hedge fund manager Joe Seet complained: “The short distance of City Road between Old Street roundabout and Finsbury Square has never been an area of sleaze and, unfortunately, now runs the risk of being an entrenched area of sleaze especially if this licensing application is permitted along with the application to operate and licence a pole-dancing gentlemen’s club at the end of the Travelodge building.”
Piya Piya will now have to stick to its present hours – stopping serving alcohol at 1.30am Monday to Sunday.
Councillor Stefan Kasprzyk, who chaired the panel, said: “The committee has received representations from a large number of residents that live in close proximity to the property and the recently signed petition evidences that concern remains current.
“The residents continue to have a high level of disturbance from patrons outside the premises.”
He added: “Although the applicant has drawn up policies the committee are not satisfied that they have been fully implemented.
“The applicant has not demonstrated a competent level of management to deal with the concerns of local residents.” |
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