A west London restaurant and shisha lounge has been given permission to extend its opening hours into the early hours of the morning. Ealing Council’s Licensing Sub-Committee voted on Tuesday (January 14) to allow the North Acton venue to operate and serve refreshments later, despite an objection from the Met Police.
Al Shorfa is located on St Leonards Road and currently operates between 11am and 2am on Friday and Saturday, and between 11am and 1am Sunday to Thursday. But the venue will now be open until 4 a.m. Friday and Saturday nights, and until 2 a.m. Sunday-Thursday.
The venue has a capacity of 80 diners and occasionally hosts parties. The committee also gave permission to play live music until 01.30 between Sunday and Thursday and until 03.30 Friday and Saturday.
Alongside the extended opening hours, Al Shorfa will now be able to serve alcohol until 1.30am on Friday and Saturday, and 12.30pm on all other days. But the Metropolitan Police raised concerns about the restaurant serving alcohol beyond those hours.
In a written representation to the committee, PC Vickie Hewison said: “The premises were only granted a premises license in July this year and are operating outside their opening hours, which shows a complete disregard for the hours and conditions on their current licence. time, the police have no confidence that the management of the premises will be able to function, while promoting the permit objectives.”
The Metropolitan Police did not send a representative to the hearing. Yusuf Alhani, legal representation for the restaurant, said: “Their (police) objections are based on observations made by noise nuisance teams… there has been no police involvement in the past, or indeed at all since the premises started operating off licence.”
The council’s noise nuisance team objected to the application because “officers observed unlicensed and excessively amplified music on the premises on two occasions” between June 2024 and November 2024.
Mr Samaroo, the applicant’s agent, claimed the premises had not been informed of these breaches, describing the timing of the disclosure as “unfair”. He said: “They’ve made visits and it’s never been mentioned. That’s why I said… it was very surprising and unfair that these things were brought up during the application period.. it’s very unfair that we’re being ambushed. about things we know nothing about.”
Mr Samaroo went on to ask the committee not to consider the complaints, but this was refused. A council officer explained that Mr Crook, a noise nuisance officer, was entitled to bring new relevant information as there are no rules around evidence at these hearings.
Mr Crook went on to say a letter was sent to the owner, Mr Ahmed, regarding complaints, but admitted a complaint had not been raised as it was only received the day before the hearing on Monday (January 13).
Committee chairman Munir Ahmed said: “The licensing sub-committee was confident of Mr Ahmed’s ability to continue to run a well-run restaurant and prevent noise and public nuisance from affecting neighboring buildings.”
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