A Finsbury Park pub could be facing closure after the town hall rejected its bid for late licensing hours, its owner has revealed today.
Landlord Mark Kavanagh at The Auld Triangle pub, on St Thomas’s Road, wanted to extend its licensing hours from 11pm to 1am on week nights,. He claimed the earlier closing time was causing him to lose business.
However, many local residents were opposed to the extension. The Metropolitan Police, Highbury West councillor Richard Greening, and Jeremy Corbyn MP all wrote letters to the Licensing Committee asking that the bid be rejected.
The pub is close to the Emirates Stadium, and one anonymous resident wrote that it is “often the site of loud, extended, alcohol-fuelled celebration,” when Arsenal FC win.
However, residents also complained, in their comments on the application, of littering and intimidating behaviour by some of the pub’s patrons. One young woman revealed that she had found patrons urinating on her doorstep and throwing things at her window.
The Council said the pub has been found operating out of its licensing hours on numerous occasions.
“If our application doesn’t go through, I can’t see the pub being here next year, I really can’t,” Mr Kavanagh said earlier this week.
“Not having a late licence means we’re losing business, because a lot of our customers travel from a long way away for our Irish music night, and if we have to finish at 11 people think ‘what’s the point?’”
He added: “When I first took over the pub, I got rid of all the alcoholic people and tried to create a nice family atmosphere.”
Responding to the issues raised in the application form, Mr Kavanagh said: “On Friday night we have an Irish music night, there’s no amplified music at all, and the age group is really from about 40 to 85.
“We’ve never had violence or drugs round here. Honestly we’d be lucky to get an old man farting in here on a Friday night.”
