Fish and Cook stationery shop in Blackstock Road

CONTROVERSIAL plans for a 24-hour slots venue to replace a family-run stationery shop in Finsbury Park have been refused by the council for a second time.

Luxury Leisure, which operates 270 venues across the country, has twice applied to open one of its Admiral Slots outlets on Blackstock Road – first in 2023, and then again last summer after the initial application was rejected.

The “adult gaming centre” would move into what is currently a stationery shop, Fish and Cook, whose owner Raj Dattani is looking to retire after 48 years.

But last Friday Luxury Leisure’s second planning request was refused – a victory for residents who had raised concerns about having a gambling venue so near to Ambler Primary School and in an area already affected by high crime rates.

Father-of-two Thomas Karshan, who has a child at Ambler, told the Tribune this week that neighbourhood WhatsApp groups were “buzzing” after locals heard about the refusal.

“Everyone is delighted,” he said. “All the parents have been up in arms about it, we all feel really involved.”

Fish and Cook is just over the borough border, meaning it is Hackney Council which had the final say on Luxury Leisure’s proposals.

The council received more than 400 objection letters, according to a detailed report on the reasons for refusal, which also listed eight other gambling venues within a 10-minute walk of the proposed premises at 3 Blackstock Road.

Mr Karshan added: “It seemed tiny but it felt like it was going to be a turning point for our neighbourhood.

“We’re thrilled that this diverse, vibrant community won’t be damaged by the incursion of anti-social behaviour that would have come from [a slots venue].”

As well as objections from local residents, MPs Jeremy Corbyn and David Lammy voiced their opposition to the proposals.

Under government legislation, local authorities have to “aim to permit” gambling establishments, which “makes it really difficult to reject applications for new venues,” explained Islington’s community safety chief Councillor Angelo Weekes.

“It says you must accept [an application for a gambling venue] unless there are extraordinary reasons why you cannot. It basically ties your hand behind your back in what you can do.”

Across the borough in Caledonian Road, the last three planning applications for gambling venues were refused by Islington Council, but the betting companies succeeded in overturning them on appeal.

A group of nearly 40 local councils, including Islington, signed an open letter to the government last month urging reform to gambling laws.

“The message to central government is that you need to move fast on this,” said Cllr Weekes, who will be working on an updated gambling policy for Islington that is up for renewal early next year.

In its reasons for refusal, Hackney Council said that a slots venue on Blackstock Road would “result in an overconcentration of gambling establishments within the Finsbury Park District Town Centre”, and would contravene the council’s policy for no more than 5 per cent of shops in a town centre being betting or “payday loan” shops.

The council also said it would “negatively impact the vitality, viability, and character of the area, as well as the health and wellbeing of the local community,” and that the proposed 24-hour opening times would lead to “unacceptable levels of noise, disturbance, and potential anti-social behaviour”.

Luxury Leisure had not responded to a request to comment by the time the Tribune went to print.