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By RICHARD OSLEY
 
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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