A bid for late-night refreshment at a Brick Lane restaurant has been withdrawn after concerns were raised about the area's Cumulative Impact Zone (CIZ). Councillors at a Tower Hamlets Licensing Sub Committee meeting on Tuesday, 30 December, heard the application for Z&H One Rise Limited at 46 Brick Lane, but ultimately the applicants withdrew their request.
The CIZ is in place to protect the local community from the impact of a high density of licensed premises. To be considered an exception to the CIZ policy in Brick Lane, an applicant needs to demonstrate why they should be granted a license despite the policy. Councillor Gould stated, we have a policy in brick lane area that says that no new licenses will be granted for late night refreshment or the sale of alcohol effectively unless the applicant shows that they should be an exception to that policy
The application sought permission to provide late-night refreshment between 11pm and 4am every night. However, following discussions with the police, the applicants had agreed to reduce these hours to midnight from Sunday to Thursday and 1am on Fridays and Saturdays.
Mohshin Ali, the Licensing Officer, explained that representations had been received from the Licensing Authority, Environmental Health, and local residents, citing concerns about public nuisance due to the premises' location within the Brick Lane CIZ. These concerns related to the potential impact on licensing objectives, particularly public nuisance. The Licensing Authority believed granting the license could undermine the licensing objectives, particularly public nuisance.
Confusion arose regarding the applicant's identity, with Mr Ali noting that Xiaobin Chen had ceased to be the director on 26 August 2024, replaced by Dongrong Yu. Applicants present at the hearing confirmed Dongrong Yu was now in charge.
One of the applicants stated the business aimed to cater to customer demand, saying:
there are like lots of customer like ask us to open late you know like a late night and also brickland is a kind of like tourist place so we were thinking if we open late we can like a cash like more tourists and more peoples to come in
Councillor Peter Gould, chair of the Licensing Sub Committee, explained the challenges of securing a license within the CIZ:
we have a policy in brick lane area that says that no new licenses will be granted for late night refreshment or the sale of alcohol effectively unless the applicant shows that they should be an exception to that policy
Mr Ali objected to the application, arguing that the applicant had not demonstrated how granting the licence would not undermine licensing objectives or add to the area's cumulative impact.
Councillor Faroque Ahmed asked the applicants if they understood what a CIZ was, to which they replied that they did not.
The applicants then inquired about the possibility of making another application if this one was rejected. Councillor Gould clarified that it was not the Sub-Committee's role to give legal advice, offering the applicants the option to proceed with a decision or withdraw the application. The applicants chose to withdraw it.