Westminster Council held a licence review of Naroon Marylebone this week after residents claimed the premises was causing a regular nuisance from noise, cooking smells and customers and staff smoking.
Neighbours living near the restaurant at 17 New Cavendish Street operated by Mojereh Hospitality Limited told a council licensing committee that the business repeatedly breaches its licence by operating outside of opening hours and keeping an extractor fan on at night.
They said staff constantly shout and keep the kitchen door open all day and night causing noise to reverberate into residents’ flats until 1am.
A report claims Naroon almost doubled the number of outdoor tables allowed on its licence from four to seven and opens at 8.30am instead of 10am as permitted by its licence.
A letter from one resident read: “The kitchen door is never closed. We can hear all day long and night: kitchen staff shouting, on the phone, chef banging all day long to apparently tender the meat…. there is not a single period of more than 15 minutes which is quiet.”
Residents claimed the restaurant and the freeholder De Walden Estate have ignored their concerns or were too slow to react. They said the restaurant took “months” to stop operating their extractor fan and a fridge fan in the courtyard overnight.
Residents have asked the council to reduce Naroon’s operating hours from midnight to 6pm for three months and until 10.30pm after that. They’ve also asked for doors to be shut to stop fumes and odours drifting into apartments and to stop customers smoking in outdoor seating areas; and that no cleaning takes place between 10pm and 8am.
One supporter of the licence review wrote: “The premises originally licenced as a restaurant appears to be run as a late night party venue with very little management control and complete disregard of neighbours.
“The extractor is noisy and is left running 24 hours a day, the pavement area has more tables than the permitted number and the pavement is crowded with standing drinkers making passing pedestrians use the road to get past.”
The licence review also received a raft of objections from people in support of the venue. One person wrote: “The motion to review Naroon’s licence comes as a great surprise to me. The restaurant has never caused any noise or other disturbance to us and instead is an essential, warm and welcoming part of our neighbourhood.”
Another wrote: “Naroon has breathed new life into the location, offering a calm, enjoyable dining experience. They clearly take public nuisance prevention seriously.”
A letter submitted on behalf of De Walden Estate, which also runs the block known as Kinglsey Lodge, where Naroon is located, said the landlord is involved in discussions with Westminster Council and local residents.
Westminster Council held a review during a meeting on Thursday 3 July and will make decision later this month.
Named after a suburb in northern Tehran, Naroon offers contemporary Persian cuisine, according to its website. It also has other restaurants in Fitzrovia.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service contacted De Walden Estate and Naroon for comment.
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