Greengate Kebabish, Plaistow applies to open until 5am

Greengate Kebabish, at 545 Barking Road, has applied to open between 11am and 5am every day, and to provide late-night refreshments between 11pm and 5am, our sister title London Now reports.

The takeaway's current operating hours are "12am to 12pm", seven days a week, according to its menu - but it has "not previously held a premises licence", Newham Council says.

Its new application will be reviewed by the council's licensing team at a meeting on February 10 after objections from four residents and two other business owners.

Tahir Munir of Papa's Chicken - another takeaway further along Barking Road - said he had a "strong objection" to the late opening hours.

In his representation, Mr Munir said: "I have a strong objection to this because it will negatively effect my local area with large amount of people being attracted to the area at late hours of the night and also any criminality that may come along with it.

"There are already enough shops opened late along this strip which is enough to serve the local area."

Another business owner in the area, Robin Singh, raised concerns about Greengate Kebabish attracting "unnecessary footfall and antisocial behaviour".

He said: "If this application is granted it will effect (sic) my business severely as we are already struggling to make ends meet."

The name of Mr Singh's business is not mentioned in his representation.

Meanwhile, several residents sent in hand-written objections to the premises licence application, one of whom believes the takeaway will bring "unnecessary crime and late night gatherings".

A mum in the neighbourhood said the thought of gatherings outside the takeaway continuing until 5am is "honestly unbearable".

She said: "Already it feels like chaos on our street.

"People shouting, loud talking, rubbish left everywhere, people hanging around on [the] street in large number of groups is not fair on the locals.

"By 2am groups of people are already hanging around the bus stops disturbing the locals with their noise, which to be fair having another restaurant open late will attract more crowds."

In response, Greengate Kebabish said it has "never" had a noise complaint or any antisocial behaviour incidents at its premises, and does "not contribute to the same type of late-night crowd associated with fast-food takeaway spots" due to serving different dishes.

The applicant's response said: "We respectfully ask that the licensing team consider our clean record, our responsible operation, and the fact that we serve a completely different customer base and serve completely different food compared to rest of the shop in the area who already operating late.

"We remain fully committed to being a positive presence in the neighbourhood."

This paper has contacted Greengate Kebabish for a further comment.