Wood Green venue Smoky Lounge has been subject to several noise complaints but will now be allowed to open for longer, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

A Wood Green bar and restaurant has been granted a licence to extend its opening hours despite concerns over noise.

Smoky Lounge in Mayes Road, a restaurant and shisha bar, has had its new premises licence granted, allowing it to open from 8am-12am, Sunday to Thursday, and 8am-1am on Fridays and Saturdays. 

This is an average 30-minute reduction on the hours originally proposed by the applicant but is still an extension to the current hours. Under its previous licence the bar opened from 4pm during the week and 2pm over the weekend.

The premises will sell alcohol from 10am-11.30pm from Sunday to Thursday and 10am-12.30am at the weekend. 

The council’s licensing sub-committee previously heard strong objections from neighbors on Mayes Road, worried about the longer hours leading to more noise issues and potentially antisocial behaviour. 

One neighbour, Bryan Barnes, described the years of “nonsense” he’d experienced living next to the premises, adding he had heard noise from inside his house, and said no neighbour in attendance wanted to see the license extended “under any circumstances”. 

Sheith Subrattee echoed this, adding the roof area to the rear of the premises, which features a shisha bar, was a “problem area” for noise, and the owners, despite receiving complaints, hadn’t “done anything about it”. 

Tensions on the road were clear as the neighbours described feeling as if concerns were ignored not only by the owners but by the council. 

Bryan said when the council’s noise team visited, following a complaint, the officer either “missed it” or said it wasn’t “loud enough”. 

In response, the committee felt the applicant was “entitled to succeed” despite the “strong feelings locally” if they could satisfy the panel that the licensing objectives would be met. 

In its decision notice issued this week, the committee stated the roof-top shisha bar must close at 10.30pm. 

The applicant had sought a later closing time but the committee, under advice from the noise team, felt the objective of avoiding public nuisance through noise “would be met” by the earlier time. 

A member of staff, trained in operating CCTV, must be present at the venue at all times, and a noise limiter must be fitted to the musical amplification system and set at a level determined by and to the satisfaction of the noise team.  

The notice added that all sound-generating equipment used on the premises must be routed through the sound limiter device. 

The applicant must also provide a dedicated hotline for residents to make complaints and the external area fronting the premises will be closed from 9pm.

Despite the volume of complaints the committee stated the noise team had not been able to “validate” all of them.

The Metropolitan Police had raised concerns around drugs but said a submission of a satisfactory written zero tolerance drugs policy, that was then adhered to, would meet the licensing objective.

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