A café in Rainham has been blocked from serving alcohol to seated customers.
The operators of Ilirida Café applied to Havering Council’s licensing department to sell beers and wine between 11am and 11pm, seven days a week.
In their application, they said their “modest-sized café” would mainly serve tea and coffee but, “in order to not lose customers, we would like to serve a bottled beer or a glass of wine”.
The café will seat around 16 customers inside and eight on the pavement in front of the café.
However, the Reform-led licensing committee ultimately agreed with residents who opposed the scheme at a meeting held on Thursday (August 13).
One resident, who lived adjacent to the café, told the committee she would not enjoy a “peaceful life” if people were sitting outside the venue drinking until 11pm after she had “been at work all day”.
“I have my grandson every other weekend, who has a lot of difficulties, and I am worried about how this will have an effect on him,” she added.
“It will be a totally different environment for him, with the noise and people gathering outside.”
The café had attempted to mitigate these concerns by agreeing with the licensing team to close the outdoor seating areas at 8.30pm, a representative for the venue told the committee.
Another resident said he was “very stressed” about alcohol being served next door to him and expressed disapproval at the idea the café could serve “beer with a croissant in the morning”.
The applicant’s agent said that around 80 per cent of sales would be foodstuffs alongside teas, coffees and soft drinks, while the alcoholic drinks were ancillary.
“He’s just going to buy a small fridge to go under the counter for small bottles of beer and small bottles of wine,” he added.
“By no means is it a bar or a pub.”
Anyone making a nuisance would be asked to leave and drunk patrons would be refused service, the agent said.
It is the first licence refused by the new licensing committee since Reform UK took over Havering Town Hall in May.
The applicants will have 21 days to appeal the decision.
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