No. Fifty Cheyne, a high-end restaurant in Chelsea said to serve London's "best Sunday roast", was brought before a Kensington and Chelsea Licensing Sub-Committee on Thursday, July 30, following allegations from local resident Colin Scagell.
Mr Scagell told the sub-committee he had been complaining about the establishment since November 2024. His official application for the review stated: "Disturbance has occurred very frequently, at least weekly. Customers are often drunk, often disorderly, sometimes unwell, all of which creates nuisance to local residents."
Management change at the venue
James Anderson, legal counsel for No. Fifty Cheyne, told the sub-committee that the previous manager had been replaced. He added that the new management had not yet been tested in their ability to control the venue.
Licensing Enforcement Officer David Williams attended as a witness for Mr Scagell. He said the disruption did not meet the threshold for statutory nuisance, but that the concerns should be taken into account. Mr Williams said that while the nuisance may not seem great, Cheyne Row was "such a quiet street" that it would "create quite a disturbance."
Sarah Le Fevre, legal counsel for Mr Scagell, said her client had repeatedly tried to resolve the issues with the previous business manager, as shown in a series of emails presented to the sub-committee. She said: "Direct interference with the licensing objectives, and the misery caused by those issues, continued and they continued until the venue shut fairly recently for what appears to be a fairly extensive program of refurbishment." She described the disruption as "sporadic, unforeseeable and unpredictable."
Complaints and supporting residents
Two other local residents formally wrote in support of Mr Scagell's claims. Kensington and Chelsea council had received 17 formal noise and nuisance complaints regarding the premises in the last 24 months. No authorities made representations at the meeting.
The sub-committee was privately shown a series of videos submitted by Mr Scagell that allegedly showed nuisance being caused. Councillor Marie-Therese Rossi, who sits on the sub-committee, said that although there was noise in the videos, they did not seem to show many people outside the venue. Mr Scagell told the sub-committee that it was hard to capture the disruption on camera because of its sporadic nature and without invading privacy.
However, two residents also formally wrote in support of the premises. Mr Matthew Taylor, who lives on Cheyne Row, wrote a letter supporting the venue, saying he enjoyed living opposite. "In my opinion the grounds for the application are exaggerated and without merit," he wrote.
"I, for one, consider that the management of No. Fifty Cheyne are sensitive to the local residents and that high class clientele who frequent the establishment cause a public nuisance, are an incitement to crime, or any sort of disorder, or present any threat to public safety is utterly preposterous exaggeration of their civil and well-behaved conduct."
Suggested conditions and decision
Mr Scagell suggested conditions such as ensuring a member of staff monitored the outdoors area after 9pm. No. Fifty Cheyne said that even if the panel found it could not enforce conditions, it was happy to volunteer some in order to improve relations with the applicant. The hearing discussed possible conditions, including restricting the number of smokers outside and the hours of refuse collection.
A decision was set to be given within five working days of the hearing.
