Police and council staff have objected to a kebab shop extending its opening hours until 2am after someone was "slashed across the neck" outside the premises.

McKlunky's, in High Street, Hornchurch, had hoped to serve its kebabs, chicken and burgers until 2am on Friday and Saturday - an extra hour longer than its current opening times.

The application to vary its premises licence will be heard at a meeting on Friday (July 26).

PC Chris Stockman said in a letter on behalf of the Metropolitan Police that the force "cannot support" the application as it believes it will lead to "large intoxicated crowds" gathering, which will likely cause "crime and disorder".

He said: "Having a venue operating until 0200 hours will attract customers after other licensed premises have closed and will lead to large intoxicated crowds to gather and loiter in a small area which will likely lead to disturbances and crime and disorder.

"This will in turn cause the safety of the public to be at risk because of violent crime and the injuries associated with such offences."

McKlunky's owner Asif Khan said the takeaway has zero objections from local residents to the extension of its opening hours, and is simply trying to attract more customers to its small business.

He said: "We just want to have that little bit of extra money to cover the cost of everything and keep our customers happy.

"It's a small, small business - it doesn't look very glamorous but it's something that is very dear to us.

"Hopefully it will be a positive result on Friday, but we will see how it goes."

The police fear McKlunky's opening later could The police fear McKlunky's opening later could lead to 'large intoxicated crowds' gathering in this part of the high street (Image: Google Maps)

The police representation makes note of a stabbing outside the takeaway restaurant last year.

On the night of the incident in February 2023, it says the victim and suspect were allowed in the shop after the closing time of 1am - shortly after which the pair argued and the victim was "slashed across the neck".

The venue was issued with a warning letter at the time, but PC Stockman says this shows what could happen if McKlunky's was granted longer hours.

Other representations, including from Havering Council's Environmental Health team and their Licensing Authority, are worried about the impact the extension will have on residents who live nearby.

Mike Richardson, senior public protection officer at Havering Council, said "inebriated customers" will make noise as they wait for their takeaways, and extra disturbance could also be caused by the "extract serving system".

The premises licence for McKlunky's in Hornchurch will be discussed at the town hall this Friday (Image: Google Maps)

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Oisin Daly, from the council's Licensing Authority, added that although residents nearby may have become "accustomed to the current noise levels", longer opening hours could cause extra "noise nuisance".

However, Charles Denny, a licensing consultant for McKlunky's, said that the kebab shop has already extended the hours of its door security, "which has been successful in mitigating noise nuisance".

In the application form, Mr Denny wrote a number of steps that McKlunky's would take to promote the authority's licensing objectives.

These include no alcohol to be consumed or allowed on the premises, customers being discouraged from loitering outside and a door supervisor to be on duty from 11pm until closing time when this is beyond midnight.

Each of the parties that have made representations about the premises licence application, as well as McKlunky's owner Mr Khan, will be invited to speak at the licensing sub-committee meeting on Friday.

The sub-committee will then deliberate in private to make a decision.