A restaurant has hit back at an “unfair” review and decision to suspend the venue’s licence for two weeks following complaints from residents.

Kay-Viva, located in West Ham Lane, Stratford, had its licence reviewed after residents accused the restaurant of running as a nightclub with live DJs and music playing until 4am.

During a meeting with Newham Council’s licensing sub-committee last week (October 2), a resident claimed Kay-Viva had been turned “primarily from a café and restaurant into a nightclub” and said he and his neighbours had been unable to get a decent night’s sleep.

He went on to say residents had been kept up at night due to loud music, drunk people shouting and screaming in the street and noise from cars, though this was later contested by Kay-Viva and its legal representative as they said there was “no evidence” that this came from the premises itself.

Most of the late night events had been operating under Temporary Event Notices (TENs), though licensing officers said some events might have taken place outside current conditions or without a valid TEN in place.

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Vivian Ezeagu, who is Kay-Viva’s designated premises supervisor, later told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that she had mistakenly applied for the wrong hours under the TENs.

A petition calling for the venue’s licence to be reviewed was signed by 69 residents and during a compliance visit last month, licensing officers discovered Kay-Viva had breached some of its conditions including serving customers at the bar and serving alcohol without meals.

Licensing officers concluded: “It is clear from this visit that the premises has adapted its use of the premises from a restaurant to a restaurant/bar/club.

“This current licence although does have robust conditions which were implemented by the licensing sub-committee, it is not currently fit for purpose if the business model has changed at this venue.”

During last week’s meeting, the licensing team suggested Kay-Viva apply for a full variation to its licence to suit its new business model.

Rob Edge, who was representing Kay-Viva, acknowledged there were “challenges” with the current business model of the venue, which he said was having a negative impact on Kay-Viva’s profitability and their clients.

He added: “It seems that there are concerns raised by the local residents about issues such as vehicles, people in the road and general anti-social behaviour (ASB) but there is no direct evidence that this is from this premises.

“However, it’s important to clarify that we believe a lot of the problems come from in and around the area… that’s not to say that this premises is completely innocent but as was mentioned earlier, even when people do leave, part of the dispersal plan is that people are dispersed in small groups so that at 4am there’s not a mass exodus with large numbers out in the street.”

Mr Edge went on to say that the TENs had seen no recorded incidents with the Met Police and Environmental Health.

Ms Ezeagu later said Kay-Viva uses TENs when customers want to have parties, and that the parties were for an older crowd and not younger people.

She said she’d ideally want a licence which would allow her to open until 4am on Fridays and Saturdays but that she might not always use it as she wants to continue hosting for just private events or birthday parties.

Mr Edge said residents’ concerns would be addressed and Kay-Viva aimed to work harder and in harmony with the local residents association.

A resident at the meeting said: “Residents are very supportive of local businesses particularly of such restaurants and cafés and we will continue to support them as much as we can.

“However, in terms of our concerns I continue to have concerns that there doesn’t seem to be recognition of noise or the disruption that’s being caused as a result of their business function. We wouldn’t be sat here had residents not had concerns and that’s been supported by 69 individual signatories.”

He said: “It’s the residents’ position that we maintain concern regarding the licences operating at the moment; that it is not operating fully as a café and restaurant with waiter or waitress service and is actively promoting on social media or through flyers… for paid on entry admission to in affect what has become a club, a nightclub or a rave.”

The licensing sub-committee adjourned the meeting while they made their decision in private, which was to suspend the licence for two weeks so staff can undergo robust training by a training provider.

Further conditions will be added onto the licence and will be detailed in a decision letter.

When the LDRS spoke to Ms Ezeagu a few days after the meeting, she said Kay-Viva is allowed to stay open but is prohibited from selling alcohol under the two-week suspension.

She called the licensing review and allegations surrounding her venue “unfair” and that the decision wasn’t “a fair deal”.

She said: “I’m not happy, we are struggling – they have suspended [the sale of alcohol] for two weeks so how am I going to make money? It will affect my business, we are struggling to pay all the rent and the bills.

“My restaurant here, we’re old school, it’s old people that just want to get out of their houses, they can’t go to young people’s clubs, they can’t go to young people’s places to sit down and drink so they come to me.

“I’m only trying to make ends meet and do my bit for the community, nothing else.”