Family restaurant chain gets nod for new branch after agreeing to promote women’s safety scheme

A family-run restaurant chain can extend into Fitzrovia after agreeing to promote a Camden-wide scheme to ensure women’s safety.

Honey and Co Daily plans to open a new branch at Store Street, close to Goodge Street Station.

It already has four branches in central London offering Middle Eastern food.

It hopes to serve alcohol between 10.30am and 10.30pm on Mondays to Saturdays.

The new restaurant will have 40 seats across two floors, with 22 more seats outside.

The Charlotte Street Association asked for customers to stop eating outside at 9pm and for alcohol sales to end at 10pm to reduce the impact on nearby residents. These include people living in 11 flats above the new bakery.

They also suggested the venue should sign up to the Ask Angela scheme to promote women’s safety.

The scheme means customers can use the code word ‘Angela’ to show they need help.

It started in 2016 and has spread across England to promote safety. It is a key part of Camden’s licensing policy.

One resident objected: “Store Street does not need another premises serving alcohol. There are at least 10 premises that do so. This only brings more noise, particularly in the summer when residents tend to open their windows.”

Applicant Itamar Srulovich said he discussed concerns with residents.

“We are a family company and have been trading in the area for 12 years,” he said, telling councillors that there had never been any problems.

Cllr Jenny Headlam-Wells (Kentish Town) said the application did not include women’s safety principles.

Srulovich said: “The safety of anyone who comes to eat with us is foremost on our minds.”

He pledged to make sure Ask Angela works if it is a condition, but added: “We couldn’t find a way to implement it.

“There’s no way that someone will be in distress, and we will not clock it.”

Cllr Headlam-Wells said it “would be a bonus to show to female customers that you are aware of this possibility”.

She said unisex toilets could add to concerns if people had too much to drink.

Srulovich said: “We have alcohol training, we do not over-serve.”

There will always be three members of staff on the premises, he said.

Cllr Lorna Greenwood (Fortune Green) said: “It’s not just customers, it’s staff.”

She said it was a Camden-wide policy so customers and staff could ask for help in licensed venues.

“It’s important from an awareness perspective for your staff and the public to have consistency across Camden.”

Srulovich said his venues have operated safely with no problems for the last 12 years.

Cllr Greenwood said Ask Angela does apply to restaurants.

Cllr Headlam-Wells said attitudes have changed so much over the last 12 years about sexual harassment of women and the council is at the vanguard of promoting the Ask Angela policy.

She said it would show the restaurant is “making an extra effort to make female customers more comfortable”.

The council’s licensing team agreed that Ask Angela was more relevant for pubs and bars, but said restaurants should train staff about the scheme.