Good Day Lounge, in Lea Bridge Road, has applied to serve alcohol between 11am and 10pm seven days a week, reports Sebastian Mann, Local Democracy Reporter

Plans for a Walthamstow café to serve beer have raised concerns among locals.

Kole Dodaj has applied to Waltham Forest Council to serve alcohol at Good Day Lounge, in Lea Bridge Road, between 11am and 10pm seven days a week.

Though the applicants say they will put up signs asking patrons to respect residents, leave quietly, and not to loiter, two locals formally objected to the proposal.

They wrote to the town hall’s licensing subcommittee, made up of elected councillors, asking them to refuse permission.

One Lea Bridge Road resident said another licensed premises in the area was “unnecessary” as the local demand for alcohol was “already met” by nearby shops.

He added: “I already experience issues at this location due to a nearby bus stop, where individuals frequently discard rubbish, including beer cans, into my front garden. In some cases, people have used my boundary wall as a seating area, requiring me to intervene and ask them to leave.”

His fellow objector said the area had a history of antisocial behaviour, which had been worsened by a now-closed pub further down the busy road.

In a bid to reduce the risk, applicants agreed with the council to limit any alcohol, intended to be drunk away from the premises, to “sealed containers only”. That would rule out pint glasses and disposable cups.

In their lengthy application, they also laid out their plans to install a CCTV system, operate by the Challenge 25 policy, and keep an incident log to record refusals, ejections, complaints and disorder.

Alcohol will only be delivered to a person’s address, where it is “clear they are a resident,” or to a business and never to a public place such as a bus stop or street corner, the application states.

Additionally, it may only be served with a “substantial” food order.

The council’s licensing enforcement team said it would “minimise your premises being a source of street drinking in the area as well as any other anti-social behaviour”.

Neither the Metropolitan Police’s licensing team nor the council’s objected to the scheme.

It will go before the committee next week.

Councillors will also decide on the future of Wood Street Café, also in Walthamstow, where customers have reportedly been smoking in an enclosed space.

No news is bad news

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.

The audiences they serve know less, understand less, and can do less.

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.

Choose the news. Don’t lose the news.

Monthly direct debit

Annual direct debit

£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else.