Northampton town centre restaurant has licence revoked

A Northampton town centre restaurant has had its licence revoked after it repeatedly served underage customers and created a large amount of noise nuisance.

Exotic Cuisine in Abington Square was subject to a licensing hearing earlier this month following a review instigated by Northamptonshire Police’s Licensing Team, after multiple complaints were made by police officers and members of the public.

Members heard from one man who lived with his young son near the venue and was regularly disturbed by loud music and anti-social behaviour arising from the premises.

The noise had caused his son to be sleep deprived and as a result, this was affecting his schoolwork.

The man went on to say that he knows of at least two people who had vacated the flats due to the noise emanating from the restaurant late at night.

At the hearing, it was also established that the venue did not have SIA door supervisors on duty and that underage people were regularly served alcohol.

This included one young woman who would go on to report an assault.

Investigations also established that a 17-year-old girl was employed to work behind the bar serving alcoholic drinks during late night trading hours.

Licensing Sergeant Simon Moreton, said: “First of all, I would like to thank PC Sandy Tracey for bringing about this review – it is her hard work that has gotten us this result.

“This venue have shown a complete disregard for the conditions of their licence and have instead allowed the premises to become a hotbed for anti-social behaviour and crime.

“Licences are put in place for a reason and when the conditions of a licence are breached, it’s important for us to act as there will be a lot of underlying issues that need to be addressed.

“I am pleased to see the licence in this case revoked and I want to reassure the public that we will continue doing everything we can, alongside our partners, to appropriately deal with similar licence breaches in the future.”