Late night licensing on Lordship Lane

[madger]

Hello all - for a couple of years now the noise at 2am closing time has been getting worse and worse on lordship lane... and I've just seen that the Adventure Bar is applying to extend its 2/2.30 am opening hours to thursdays and sundays too. I know many of us like to have one drink or three, but it's become almost intolerable - the fights, the screaming, the vomit - every single weekend, and I wondered if anyone else would be happy to oppose this application? The deadline is 11th August. I just hope that we can preserve east Dulwich's lovely, quite unique feel as an 'urban village' and these 2am licenses are starting to erode that, severely. It's lovely to have such a range of bars and restaurants, but the Adventure bar and Boho bar very aggressively market happy hours and then don't take any responsibility for the chaos that ensues. Please help!!!! there are plenty of places in London and Southwark to stay out until 2.30am, but I don't think Lordship Lane is the right place.... would be really grateful if any of you who feel the same could write to the LBS Licensing Service, c/o Southwark Community Enforcement Business Unit, Chaplin Centre, Thurlow Street, London SE17 2DG to oppose this - and your Councillor?

[DulwichFox]

I am seldom out after midnight.

Lordship Lane after 10.00pm now resembles St. Antonio Ibiza, or Malia in Crete.

For locals it is almost impossible to find somewhere to eat.

For some reason people travel miles to reach East Dulwich.

It now has a reputation for all the wrong reasons.

Underage drinking is a real problem. It is very sad to see young girls throwing up

on the street.

Loutish behavour from seemingly 'Well to do' yobbos.

People come to ED. because they can get drunk. (Not cheeply. Prices are high.)

Drugs ??? probably cheaper than beer.

[PipW]

Oh what a nightmare. I'll definitely write to the council. We live on one of the streets just off Lordship Lane and I just dread Friday/Sat nights at the moment. I'm not exactly past it myself, and not averse to people enjoying themselves at the weekend, but every weekend we get people pouring out of those two bars at closing time - fighting, shouting/screaming, smashing bottles etc. It usually goes on for about an hour (until 3am), before they finally get on a bus/ get moved on by police/ pass out in the gutter (!). The thought of Thursday and Sunday nights going the same way is terrifying. We have children and busy jobs and it would be so awful to have that sort of disruption on a work night. This is a residential area with lots of working people and families - councillors please take note! We all love the villagey/community feel of East Dulwich and Adventure Bar and Boho bar are spoiling it. Help!!

[Sue]

DulwichFox Wrote:

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>

> For locals it is almost impossible to find

> somewhere to eat.

>

xxxxxxxxx

Eh?

[georgia]

I like the fact that bars stay open late on LL as it saves having to travel for a night out. And I don't think the behaviour is as bad as some on here suggest. I lived on LL for 5 years and was never really bothered by late-night noise.

Having late licenses on Thursdays and Sundays doesn't bother me, not that I would go out till late on these nights - but not everybody works Monday-Friday and goes out only at the weekend.

[edanna]

PipW, what you describe sounds horrendous. As well as opposing the new licensing application, I think you could also complain about the impact of the current licensing hours. I don't know much about licensing, but I think there is potential for a licence to be changed/revoked. Have you mentioned it on James Barber's thread?

[DulwichFox]

Sue Wrote:

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> DulwichFox Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> >

> > For locals it is almost impossible to find

> > somewhere to eat.

> >

>

> xxxxxxxxx

>

> Eh?

What I am saying is. If you want to eat with loads of loud mouth yuppies. or drunk idiots insulting

the waiters. ED is fine.

I have been eating out in ED since 1974.

Try finding a peaceful restaurant (serving decent food) Thursday - Sunday.

ED is not a holiday resort. Hard to believe though.

[KalamityKel]

Mentioned application

I'm guessing this is the one

[madger]

yes - that's the one!

Georgia - I totally understand that some people don't work regular hours - I don't either - frequently working late into the night, but it's the TYPE of drinking. I think it's lovely if people have a good, social time, but I don't think it's lovely when they then start punching each other, screaming, vomiting in my garden, peeing in the driveway, and shouting..... which now happens every single weekend. I love going out here myself, but it's getting out of hand. I've lived here for 11 years, on the Lane itself, and can definitely say it's become unbearable. But of course, totally respect your opinion Georgia. I'd just be really happy if anyone who does feel the same makes their objection before 11th August.

[.......]

How do we go about objecting?

[PipW]

I'm with Madger on this one. I understand the benefits of not having to travel too far for a drink - the "normal" pubs (as opposed to the new bars) are one of the joys of East Dulwich - but the effects of the excess drinking on the rest of us really are unbearable. I'm sure you don't stand screaming in the middle of the road, smash a bottle over your mate's head and then vomiting your chips up all over the pavement when you go out for a drink Georgia! Sorry if I'm a little cranky - must be the sleep deprivation...

Thanks for your suggestion Edanna - I will do. Definitely going to write to the council too though. Sorry Georgia!

[KalamityKel]

How to object

[madger]

thanks for the link KalamityKel.... and I've also enclosed the postal address that was on the license application in the first post of this thread - objections must reach them by 11th August.

[stevebailey]

" Please help!!!! there are plenty of places in London and Southwark to stay out until 2.30am, but I don't think Lordship Lane is the right place...."

Where are these places? Are they other people's doorsteps far away from yours?

It's a little rich saying that it's intolerable only to suggest it's fine somewhere else, last time I checked other people live somewhere else.

I notice you don't mention Liquorice? Is this a safe distance from your doorstep that the 'other people' have to worry about it and not yourself?

I agree that it is not pleasant to have to put up with, it is however what happens......

[paragon]

> What I am saying is. If you want to eat with loads

> of loud mouth yuppies. or drunk idiots insulting

> the waiters. ED is fine.

>

> I have been eating out in ED since 1974.

>

> Try finding a peaceful restaurant (serving decent

> food) Thursday - Sunday.

>

> ED is not a holiday resort. Hard to believe

> though.

This is utter bollox. I agree with some of your earlier points and no-one should have to be woken up all weekend by drunks. But to say you can't find someone to eat at all on the lane that isn't full of offensive drunks is ridiculous. If when you say Peaceful you mean Empty then you won't really find anywhere. Although if it wasn't busy then you wouldn't find some many different places to eat!

[madger]

Apologies Steve Bailey, I do not mean to antagonise anybody, I am merely posting this because if, peaceably, anyone agrees with us, then it would be lovely if they could write to the Council; I do not wish to offend anyone, or become embroiled in an online debate about our community.... Of course I respect the fact that other people will feel differently to me on this. Actually, Liquorice is equidistant from my place to the Adventure Bar so, yes, I encounter the late night spill out from both places... the only reason I am talking specifically about The Adventure Bar is because they have made a NEW application for thursdays and sundays, not because I am wanting to have a general rant. And by 'other places' I meant - spend ?1.20 on the bus and take advantage of wonderful late night central London, which is so brilliantly noisy and social anyway, and which can take that level of late-nightness. i was NOT meaning that I hoped people would merely shift up the road and disturb other people!!

You say that these things will happen anyway, but I hope that is not the case. We have the right to object to license applications, and if enough people feel strongly enough to write then that could make a real difference. I see no reason to sit back and accept this new licensing application as inevitable. i know I might be sounding a bit fuddy duddy here - but having lived here for 11 years, I just think it would be lovely to keep the area from turning into a late night dive, while retaining all its exuberance and later hours in the pubs etc etc. Sorry for any offence!

[DulwichFox]

I am a single pereson.

Restaurants in general do not want to intertain single people

because they take up a table which could host 2-4 people.

A few years back they were glad of your custom.

I do not drink much.

Loud drunk people spend money. So resturanteurs put up with the crap.

[stevebailey]

I'm not going to respond to that other than to say you're reasoned and eloquent response has actually made me feel quite bad.

[DJKillaQueen]

I think it has to be about balance. It is reasonable that a bar might want to be open late on a fri/ sat and that if you live near to one you will be disturbed.

But is there any reason for that bar to need to open late on a Sunday? I think it is perfectly reaosnable that local residents should have peace and quiet at least one night a week. Yes some people don't work Mon-Fri but the vast majority of people who work, still do. And all children have to be at school the next day.

For those of you that are regularly disturbed, it might be worth looking at the terms of their current licence too. Just as the council can decide not to grant the new licence, they can also take away the previous licence if there are grounds to do so.

Definitely get local councillors on board too.

[madger]

No worries Stevebailey, and thank you so much for your reply. It's easy to do on these sites - we'd all be much softer on each other if we were talking face to face. And thanks too for your suggestions DJKillaQueen.

[SeanMacGabhann]

I thought madger?s original post was exactly the right way to go about drumming up support and was so well-expressed I nearly signed up, until I remembered I don?t agree (with all of it anyway)

I agree that Goose Green to Budgens is pretty grim on a Friday and Saturday nights ? but if it?s possible to have long drinking hours in other countries, my interest would be in unravelling why it seems to cause such problems here

[JohnL]

I don't stay out much beyond 1am - and LL is always pretty quiet when I go home (odten from the Bishop/EDT).

Does it really get worse at 2am ?

[James Barber]

Lordship Lane has a mild hotspot by London standards for reported crime related to alcohol at the northern end.

If this was anywhere other than an urban city it would be considered a red hotspot.

Local papers reported that since the changes in licensing laws emergency admissions to local hospitals related ot alocohol have risen by 500%.

[2Sheds]

It sounds like Madger and I live fairly close to each other. I can confirm that the behaviour of some people between midnight and 3.00 am has rapidly deteriorated.

Since the Boho bar has opened drinkers regularly come into our side street to:-

? Urinate up against the side wall/behind cars.

? Throw up in private gardens and on the footpath.

? Throw fast food and the packaging onto the street.

? Sit on our walls in small groups, make noise and drink, often leaving the empties. (Our front gardens are almost non-existant!)

? Sit in cars, with the doors open, and take substances.

? Congregate in large groups, shout and scream at each other, like drunks only can, before moving on.

About a month ago, just after midnight, a small group of people sat on my neighbours wall about 5 yards from where I was sitting watching tv. Because the TV is next to the bay window I could not avoid watching them drink, eat fast food, jump up and down and make loads of noise. I went to bed when one of the party started to throw up all over the pavement with the usual ?Bert? and ?Hughie? noises. No double glazing here :-( Next morning discarded boxes, bottles and sick lay on the pavement.

Perhaps the 'bouncers' at the Boho should patrol the first 15 yards of our street. They don't like the drunks in - we don't like them out!

[Brendan]

SeanMacGabhann Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I thought madger?s original post was exactly the

> right way to go about drumming up support and was

> so well-expressed I nearly signed up, until I

> remembered I don?t agree (with all of it anyway)

>

> I agree that Goose Green to Budgens is pretty grim

> on a Friday and Saturday nights ? but if it?s

> possible to have long drinking hours in other

> countries, my interest would be in unravelling why

> it seems to cause such problems here

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/24%11hour-drinking-would-have-worked-if-britain-wasn%27t-dreadful%2c-say-experts-201007282951/