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Objectors claim delicatessen becoming café-bar ‘by stealth’
Planners back owners, who need licence to promote Latin American art
CAMPAIGNERS have lost their bid to prevent a Latin American café in Islington serving alcohol until 11pm.
Councillors on the south area planning committee at Finsbury Town Hall agreed last week to extend Macondo’s licensed hours from 8pm until 11pm for a year.
The application has upset campaigners, who claim the Camden Passage venue is being changed from a delicatessen to a café-bar “by stealth”. The owners, who describe the venue as a gallery and cultural centre, have already been given a drinks licence until 11pm but could not use it until the planning committee gave their approval.
Neighbour Susannah Fraser told the meeting: “It’s opposite my bedroom, which is only 12ft away. Camden Passage is a built-up area and can’t accommodate another bar.
“I’m sure the owners of Macondo have every good intention but it’s just not possible to organise people who have been drinking to keep quiet.”
Mike Wheedon, of Camden Passage Association, said: “We were told there would be a delicatessen and just at the back there would be a café with a few sandwiches. We’re now told that from 8pm to 11pm there will be a bar.”
He told the committee that “in effect a fully-functioning café-bar has been inserted by stealth into Camden Passage”.
Clive Jordan, who lives in Camden Passage, said the Passage was already noisy in the evening. He added: “These longer hours would hardly involve any surviving delicatessen or other retail function, which is now minimal and amounts to mere window-dressing or decor, as is the claim by Macondo to be a significant cultural showcase, which the council report ill-advisedly swallows whole. The extra hours are about selling alcohol.”
But barrister Gareth Hughes, representing Macondo, insisted: “It’s still a mixed-use shop with a café at the rear.”
Owner Santiago Calva said: “We have cultural events and we need to be able to do that after hours and that’s when the issues arise – when we have private views.”
His business partner, Pablo Casas, said: “We’re trying to promote Latin American art and food and we need those hours. We are not trying to create a bar.”
Lib Dem committee chairman Councillor George Allan, approving the application, said: “I don’t foresee caffeine-crazed customers coming out of the establishment at 11pm.” |
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