A Westminster pizza delivery business is seeking to extend its late-night refreshment hours, a move that has drawn objections from local councillors and the Environmental Health Service, who cite concerns over noise and public nuisance.
Basilico, located at 45 Crawford Street, has applied to extend its late-night refreshment hours from midnight to 1:30 AM from Sunday to Thursday, and from midnight to 2:00 AM on Fridays and Saturdays. The business stated that its alcohol sales hours would remain unchanged.
Local councillors have raised concerns that the extended hours would exacerbate existing issues with noise from delivery drivers and staff leaving the premises, particularly given the establishment's location in a residential area. Councillor Karen Scarborough stated, there is obviously huge concern that whilst only three delivery drivers are waiting inside the fact is they're coming and going ... you can't come and go very quietly whether the door is shut or the door is open.
She also noted that the employees that are making the pizzas and presumably the applicant you know have got to they've also got to go home at some point and you know that's going to be after two in the morning as well so that's really why we have concerns
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The Environmental Health Service also objected, citing potential public nuisance and impact on public safety. These concerns are amplified when considering the council's policy on 'core hours' for late-night refreshment businesses. The policy, which applies to establishments like Basilico, sets core hours from Monday to Thursday: 10:00 to 23:30, Friday and Saturday: 10:00 to Midnight, and Sunday: 12:00 to 22:30. Basilico's application seeks to extend these hours significantly later into the night, deviating from the established core hours.
However, Basilico argued that they employ their own delivery drivers, have control over their operations, and have a history of minimal complaints. They also highlighted that a temporary event notice allowing similar hours had not resulted in any enforcement issues. The applicant also stated, in this local area, there are other businesses that operate and trade to similar hours. Not all of them are premises and are licensed premises, but they do trade until early hours of the morning, such as our neighbours who operate a business until 2am as well.
The Licensing Sub-Committee considered the arguments presented, including the council's policy on core hours and the specific concerns raised. The decision on this application was not announced at the meeting and will be communicated to the parties later. The full details of the application and the council's policy can be found in the Public reports pack.
