Three-hour Town Hall meeting was highly charged

AN upmarket food court is coming to the Nag’s Head market after councillors said “yes” to a booze licence.

Upper Place, based on the upper floor of the market at the junction of Hertslet Road and Seven Sisters Road, will now be open from 9am until 9.30pm seven days a week. Alcohol will be sold between 10am and 9pm.

Neighbours had warned that they will face noise disturbances and after a highly charged three-hour licensing meeting at the Town Hall last Thursday, Upper Place director Simone Moroni moved to reassure residents.

Describing the meeting as “intense”, he said: “We want to open and make of The Upper Place a project directed and dedicated to the local community. We have now the opportunity and we will not disappoint. One of the first and main targets for us is establishing a positive and continuous line of communication with the objecting residents that have expressed their worries on the grant of the premises licence.

Mr Moroni added: “We want The Upper Place to become a destination for the immediate vicinity and the broader local community, so we will make sure that not only we do not cause or add to existing issues in the area, but we actually help and support in resolving them.”

The venue will now specialise in Neapolitan-style pizza, smoked meats, handmade pasta and Argentinian steaks.

Earlier on in the evening, the meeting heard from residents concerned about the impact of the new evening market in an area where the presumption is against approving any new alcohol licences.

One neighbour, Kevin, who did not want to give his last name, told the panel he had lived 50 metres from the venue in Mayton Street for 21 years.

Alcohol will be served between 10am and 9pm

He said: “Let’s just look at the venue: 130 seats. If they turn the tables five times on a Saturday night, if they’re busy, that’s 650 extra people hitting Nag’s Head with taxis, drug dealers and everything else that goes with alcohol.”

Steven Andrews, who lives 15 metres away with three young children, said the current late-night anti-social behaviour on their street was so bad it was affecting their sleep.

“My children’s protection is primary for me,” he said. “They get disturbed every night from people coming back to their cars, [and] noise emanating from the market. People park outside, slam doors, argue, fight.

“When I walk my kids to school there’s men urinating on our street, outside the Nag’s Head market. That’s why we’re putting so much behind this – it’s affecting our daily lives and taking a toll.”

Councillor Gary Heather took Upper Place’s barrister Gary Grant to task over a note in the window of the market which accused Finsbury Park ward councillors of spreading “toxic” rumours about the development. The note was removed a day later.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr Grant pointed out that any late-night disturbance experienced by neighbours currently did not come from Upper Place and that Mr Moroni “deserved a chance” to prove himself.

At one stage during his evidence, market traders put their hands up to show their support – prompting residents to angrily insist they did not live there and therefore did not appreciate their suffering.

Telling the panel that nothing less than the “future security” of the Nag’s Head market was “at stake”, Mr Grant added that if they passed the application it would lead to a revitalisation of the local high street.

He said: “Whilst 11 residents object today, as well as the three ward councillors, you have many others who speak eloquently who support this application.

“There is an e-petition from August 2020 when 93 residents supported the planning application to open the Upper Place as bringing prosperity to the neighbourhood and enhancing community spirit.

“You’ll hear separately from the chair of the Nag’s Head Town Centre management group and the chair of the traders’ association of Seven Sisters Road. This amounts to a million pounds’ investment that will create up to 50 jobs. That is what is at stake today.

“It will help to revitalise the high street and secure the future of the ground-floor market.”