Finsbury Park pub’s bid to extend licence a ‘joke’, say neighbours
The Auld Triangle Pub, Google - Credit: Archant
A pub’s bid to have its alcohol licence extended into the early hours has been branded a “joke” by families living nearby.
Neighbours of The Auld Triangle, in St Thomas’s Road, Finsbury Park, claim drug dealing, criminal damage and anti-social behaviour already go on outside the pub and that children find it impossible to sleep because of loud music.
They claim the problems are much worse on Arsenal match days and during concerts at the Emirates Stadium or in Finsbury Park.
The pub’s owners, who deny all the allegations, currently have a licence to serve alcohol until 11pm but want to have it extended to 1am.
On the request to vary the licence terms, due to go before an Islington Council licensing committee tomorrow night, one resident said: “Is this application a joke?
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‘Cheek’
“The cheek of this pub and the council to even think the pub can have a late licence, given the trouble this pub has caused on evenings when the garden is used and lock-ins take place.
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“My family gets no sleep whatsoever.
“A bottle thrown through my elderly neighbour’s window next to my two-year-old’s window is not considered a crime?” She also claimed drug dealing and fighting went on outside.
Others claimed customers had been threatening and abusive towards them, and one resident told of an incident where a woman, described as a “regular” who was “totally inebriated”, shouted and swore at a group of children.
The police also object to the application, accusing the pub of showing no regard for its current licensed hours by serving alcohol after 11pm.
A letter from Pc Peter Conisbee reads: “Three days after an officer panel, the venue is breaching the same condition which brought it before the panel in the first place.
“These issues give cause for concern for the possibility of crime and disorder, even without the proposed extended hours.”
Other neighbours, while objecting to an extension, described the pub as a “friendly community pub”.
A spokesman for the pub said: “We’re sorry to read that the residents feel this way about the pub. It is a family-run pub with full CCTV and relevant security etc on the days needed.
“We have never once had police come into the pub or even had complaints over any of the allegations above.”
The owners also deny that they have exceeded their licensed hours in the past.
