A North London Caribbean restaurant will be able to stay open until 2am on the Friday of the Notting Hill Carnival weekend after it withdrew plans to do the same on the Monday night.
The police had opposed the original request due it being a “demanding and stressful” event for officers but agreed to Friday as it is “not a major concern”.
One Stop Caribbean (OSC) on Harlesden High Street initially applied for two Temporary Event Notices (TENs) over the August Bank Holiday weekend, requesting to stay open and sell alcohol from 11pm on Friday, August 22 until 2am on Saturday, August 23 and from 11pm Monday, August 25 until 2am on Tuesday August 26.
However, the owner of the restaurant withdrew the second application as they were “in agreement” with the concerns raised by officers that the activities could serve as “a magnet” by bringing festival goers to the area but still wanted to be able to benefit from the bank holiday weekend.
During a review of the application by Brent Council’s Alcohol and Entertainment Licensing Sub-Committee earlier this week (July 29), PC Phil Graves described the Notting Hill Carnival as “the most demanding weekend the police have” and the force would be opposing any TEN application over the event.
PC Graves had been urging the council to refuse the application due to the venue “breaching last year’s TEN”. He described the High Street as a “public order nightmare” last year when the area was “unlawfully transformed” into an extension of Notting Hill Carnival.
Speaking about last year’s event, when the restaurant was granted a TEN, PC Graves said: “Police attended OSC and told them to turn off their music as this was encouraging the unlawful street party to continue. Once police had managed to speak to the management – after first being refused entry – the music was turned down. A very short while later speakers were placed outside the venue and the volume turned up loud again.”
The officer claimed history has proven that the event creates “absolute carnage” on Harlesden High Street, with guns, drugs, unauthorised parties, and burglaries not uncommon. He added: “It’s an absolute nightmare for us to police and crime figures go through the roof.”
OSC owner, Sophia Dixon, agreed with the statements made by PC Graves and subsequently proposed removing Monday’s TEN as she said it would be “more than helpful” if the extension didn’t happen. Instead, she proposed only applying for the licence extension on the Friday.
PC Graves thanked Sophia “for the support” in withdrawing the second TEN and said he was “happy for the TEN to be granted on Friday” as long as the existing licensing conditions were maintained. He added: “Friday is not a major concern.”
Following a period of deliberation, the sub-committee also thanked Sophia for her cooperation and decided it was “happy to grant this TEN”. It did add a couple of additional conditions, which included employing new SIA security officers for the extended periods, as well as stopping the sale of alcohol and starting winding the music down from 1.30am.
Grant Williams is a journalist and Local Democracy Reporter (LDR) for Reach PLC, reporting on local government, politics and community issues across London. As part of the Local Democracy Reporting Service, he has contributed to Harrow Online, covering council decisions, housing developments, transport, planning matters and stories affecting local communities across Harrow and Brent.
