Fried chicken chain gets late licence despite residents’ concern about noise nuisance

A US-based fast food franchise has been given a licence to open until 2am in Fitzrovia despite concerns that it would cause late night noise disturbance to people living in nearby side streets.

Popeyes Louisiana Chicken opened in April this year at a two-floor retail unit on Tottenham Court Road, previously occupied by an optician.

The restaurant and takeaway had operated until 11pm but applied to Camden Council for a licence to stay open until 2am with home deliveries operating from the site until 5am.

It has now been granted permission to stay open until 2am from Monday to Sunday, amid staunch opposition from several neighbours who told a licensing panel that it would result in more inebriated customers shouting, piles of takeaway rubbish attracting vermin, and a rise in “significant late-night revelry”.

On behalf of one group of neighbours, Dr Shane Duffy warned Councillors Shah Miah (Labour, St Pancras and Somers Town) Sylvia McNamara (Labour, Kentish Town North) and Ash Atkinson (Green, Kilburn) that later hours would “erode the residential character of the local area” and encourage more late-night food outlets to open nearby.

Another resident, Kevin Fogarty, claimed the chicken shop would worsen the “major public nuisance [of] totally uncontrolled drug-dealing in this area”.

Neighbour Peter Secker objected to “social disturbance” but also raised Popeyes’ “history of litigation and dishonest practices and low quality food” as grounds for the council to refuse the application. He added that the restaurant’s “extremely large and bright” orange signage was out of place in the local area, “especially at night”.

Community group the Charlotte Street Association was also opposed, suggesting that customers would end up taking their boxes of chicken and chips into a nearby “pocket park” on Bedford Avenue and cause a disturbance to sleeping residents in the small hours.

Popeyes originally wanted to keep doors open to the public until 5am, but the Metropolitan Police opposed this and said they would encourage the licensing authority to reject the application unless operating hours between 2am and 5am were strictly reserved for delivery orders and a door supervisor was put onsite after 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays.

However, the chain agreed to limit all operations until 2am after Camden’s licensing and environmental health teams laid this down as a condition, along with banning anyone with alcoholic drinks from entering the premises, and requiring staff to prevent takeaway drivers causing public nuisance, for instance, by leaving vehicles idling or parked on the pavement.

The council’s licensing panel approved the application at a hearing on Thursday 4 June.

Camden Council, Licensing Panel A – Thursday 4 June 2026. Agenda. Webcast.

Please support The Fitzrovia News. Consider helping us cover our costs by visiting our secure payment page.