A St. Peter’s pub, which is facing complaints from neighbours, claims that the council is favouring residents in the dispute.
Shelby Della, general manager of historic pub The Island Queen, highlighted how “the law used to favour whatever was there first”, with the pub being there for 200 years.
Local residents are unhappy about the lack of respect shown by people at the pubs.
Ms Delba said: “We have one neighbour who has an issue with cigarette butts and complains to the council pretty regularly about that and the council sides with her on that sort of thing.”
“The council now favours the neighbours rather than the pubs, they come out very often to investigate things and your licence could be taken away if they report three incidents a year.”
Islington Councillor Joe Caluori acknowledged the challenge of balancing nightlife in the borough while respecting those who want a good night’s sleep, saying that “it’s not that the council wants to punish pubs.”
A local resident said: “The level of noise and litter on the pavement left behind by pub goers – dumping their cigarette butts – has become unbearable and turned our peaceful street into a playground for partygoers.”
Cllr Caluori said: “We have to make sure that people’s complaints are measured up through the appropriate channels because we can’t ignore them, and we have to make sure that we consider things fairly.”
MA Interactive Journalism student with media experience having worked (3-years) at Al Arabiya news network as a presenter and writer/reporter.
Bi-lingual (Arabic and English).