Havana appeal date decided

Tuesday August 24, 2010

Fulham nightspot Fiesta Havana has appealed Hammersmith & Fulham Council’s decision to turn down its request for a licence extension.

The Fulham Road bar had applied to stay open for an extra half an hour each night, until 2.30am, and to sell alcohol until 1.45am rather than its current 1am cut-off.

The council’s licensing sub-committee voted unanimously to refuse the extension at a hearing on April 26. Councillors believed that on the evidence, allowing Havana’s to stay open later and sell alcohol for longer would have an adverse effect on residents. They also concluded it would result in public nuisance, disturbances, anti-social behaviour and crime and disorder.

These issues fell under the council’s ‘cumulative impact policy’ which was introduced at the end of January to the saturation zone of Fulham Town Centre. The policy works by allowing the sub-committee to refuse to grant a new licence or an extension of an existing one if it believes it would have a negative impact on the area which already has many pubs, clubs and bars.

Local residents made objections to the proposed extension, claiming that a later licence would lead to disturbance and antisocial behaviour in the area.

Havana’s claims that the council did not give weight to the evidence the bar’s employees presented and the decision was ‘unjust’. At the time of the decision, manager Frank Burden said: “Obviously I am very disappointed. We’ve tried to work hard at improving things, and to show that we are committed to the local community.”

The bar appealed the decision at the end of May and a hearing for the appeal will take place on November 10-11 at West London Magistrates Court, Hammersmith.