MIK Treats is applying for a licence to sell hot food late at night but residents, police officers and Haringey Council have raised concerns, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

A dessert shop in Tottenham could be denied a premises licence after reports of antisocial behaviour.

The Metropolitan Police, Haringey Council and local residents all raised objections against the application from the owner of dessert shop MIK Treatz during a two hour licensing sub-committee meeting yesterday (Thursday 15th).

The shop, based at 88 Bruce Grove, operates Monday to Sunday from 12pm until 2.15am and sells cold food and drinks, which doesn’t currently need a licence.

Owner Mohamed Ahmed has now applied for a premises licence to allow the business to sell hot food and drink during the late opening hours, from 11pm to 2am. It is not proposing to sell alcohol.

However, plans faced opposition as residents worried granting the licence might exacerbate the area’s issues with antisocial behaviour.

Ursula Casserly, a resident who lives close by the premises, said that some customers, after visiting the shop, tended to “congregate throughout the area, in their cars and play loud music, sometimes until 3am”.

“There’s been two occasions where I’ve got up to go to work, this is at 6am, and there’s still people parked outside and they’re customers from MIK Treatz and they are using [nitrous oxide] gas and balloons in the car.”

Ursula acknowledged she didn’t have evidence of these incidents and, earlier during the meeting, Haringey licensing officer Daliah Barrett clarified that no antisocial behaviour statistics were contained in the report on the application.

Ursula said: “If MIK Treatz were to be given a licence it shouldn’t be so late, and I think there needs to be some controls in place so they are accountable for making sure the local area is safe, residents aren’t disrupted, and it’s not noisy.”

Haringey Council’s noise and nuisance officer Amir Darvish said the issue was about the “location versus the request” and the licensing authority wanted to find a “balance”.

The council proposed an alteration to the late-night refreshment hours, for Sunday to Thursday, serving from 11pm until midnight and keeping only Friday and Saturday from 11pm until 2am. It also proposed adding a condition that patrons would not be “permitted to loiter outside”.

Amir said the majority demographic of customers was “youth under 25” and explained issues with public nuisance were prevalent in the area “specifically the gathering in the late hours and the activities associated with youth gathering there”.

Yianni Pantelitsa, a Met Police officer, added: “We’ve been unable to come to an agreement with the times. We are of the opinion earlier terminal times would limit antisocial behaviour within the area.

“The rationale being, if premises were permitted to remain open in the early hours of the morning, where it’s the sole establishment operating late nights, it may become a focal point for antisocial behaviour, which in the past it has.”

The applicant’s representative Peter Mayhew, a licensing specialist, said the application was to be able to sell more variety of foods at later hours. The shop sold sweet treats, which could also be delivered, and this “is not a licence to sell alcohol”.

He said: “If this licence is not granted it doesn’t stop the applicant from continuing to sell their cold food and cold drink and continuing to be open until 2am. There’s an argument having a licence gives them a legal framework they have to work within to go forward.”

Following discussions, councillors on the licensing sub-committee sat in private to consider the application. A decision will be published next week.

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