‘Artisan gelato’ spot opens in Kentish Town after licensing clash
Urban Chocolatier late last night. Photograph: Nathalie Raffray / Newsquest
A dessert and ice cream parlour opened in Kentish Town over the weekend, following concerns from both locals and the police about public disturbance.
The ‘artisan gelato’ chain, Urban Chocolatier, has launched a new dine-in eatery on Kentish Town Road, serving sweet treats and refreshments until the early morning hours.
Owners UC Franchising Ltd had applied to provide customers with a “fine range of desserts and ice creams” – but not alcohol – until 2am, and to cease operations at 2.30am.
But local residents and groups challenged this “outrageous” request, arguing that it would “make life worse for locals trying to sleep at night”.
Caroline Hill, of Kentish Town Road Action, said: “We and our children have to get up early in the morning for work and school.
“That’s going to be difficult if the high street is full of kids high on sugar.”
She added that granting the licence could encourage similar businesses to open in the area and lead to the neighbourhood turning into Camden Town, which was a “nightmare” after dark.
Another resident argued that the new “patisserie” was excessive in a neighbourhood already filled with similar premises, and that Urban Chocolatier would be “a magnet for all the inebriated and drugged up people coming from Camden and Kentish Town”.
The applicant agreed that customers would be alllowed to dine until 1am, after the Metropolitan Police set ten conditions for its approving the licence.
Deliveries will now be permitted until 2am at the latest.
The Met also imposed the rule that no-one carrying “open or sealed alcoholic drinks” would be allowed in the venue at any time its doors were open, and that “no audible sound should emanate from the premises between 11pm and 8am”.
At the Town Hall licensing panel meeting on Thursday (19 June), the committee discussed the applicant’s guarantee that the premises would not become a “late-night kebab shop”.
The application itself stated: “For the avoidance of doubt, NO kebabs, pizza, fried chicken, or hot savoury food will be permitted ot be sold on this licence.”
Regarding “heated food products” the applicant’s solicitor, David Dadds, said: “Urban Chocolatier does sell waffles, so I think we do have to be careful there.”
The panel approved the application with three extra conditions.