Moncher Café in Walthamstow High Street will stay open late after a neighbour withdrew a noise complaint, reports Sebastian Mann, Local Democracy Reporter
A new Balkan café will stay open in Walthamstow after being approved by Waltham Forest Council.
The operators of Moncher, in Walthamstow High Street, were granted formal permission to run the late-night café on Thursday, 2nd October.
In documents provided to the council’s licensing department, they described it as a “stylish and welcoming” café serving “rich, Balkan-inspired coffees, artisanal pastries, and inventive cocktails”.
It is open between 9am and 11pm, seven days a week, and serves alcohol between 11am and 10.30pm.
The application was scheduled to go before the council’s licensing committee, made up of elected councillors, but a local resident withdrew their formal objection.
They had formally opposed the new venue on the grounds that “loud amplified music, shouting and singing” was “seriously affecting my and my partner’s ability to rest and work”.
As part of their objection, they included footage of “loud music, cheering, shouting and singing” filmed over nine nights in August, shortly after the café first opened.
The café sits inside a cumulative impact zone (CIZ), as designated by the council in a bid to prevent antisocial behaviour.
Though they do not directly tackle crime, CIZs are designed to stop businesses undermining the council’s ‘licensing objectives,’ which include upholding public safety and preventing crime.
Licence applications made within CIZs are likely to be refused, unless the applicant can successfully argue their business will not worsen
The neighbour ultimately withdrew their objection after the applicant agreed to keep the music’s volume at a background level until they improved the building’s acoustics, to keep the windows and doors closed when music is playing, and to put up signage asking patrons to “please leave quietly”.
They said in their application they would operate the café “with no intention to cause disruption to local residents or businesses”.
Staff would monitor patrons and ask those who are too drunk to leave, to remove the chance of disruption, and keep a CCTV system in place and record incidents in a dedicated log.
The committee will meet again next week to determine an application for a restaurant and lounge in Lea Bridge Road.
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