Efes Snooker Club fights loss of licence

Licence revoked: Efes Snooker Club on Stoke Newington Road. Photograph: Eoin O'Donnell

A popular Dalston bar and community centre is fighting a decision to strip it of its alcohol licence.

Efes Snooker Club, on Stoke Newington Road, has submitted an appeal to Thames magistrates’ court after the bar’s licence was revoked in a council licensing hearing in February.

The hearing was prompted by a police request, which cited multiple alleged breaches of licence conditions.

Among the incidents cited by the police was an occasion where an undercover police officer was able to bring a weapon into the bar unchallenged.

Efes was given 21 days in which to lodge an appeal, and by doing so the bar is now able to carry on serving alcohol until its hearing.

Steve Taylor, manager of Efes, said: “The owners and management team are making strenuous efforts to address the concerns raised by Hackney Council as quickly as possible.”

Mr Taylor praised the diversity of the venue, and said that customers had been dismayed by the potential loss.

“Efes is a unique, 375 capacity community centre for the Turkish community to watch their football teams and play pool, snooker and table football.

On Friday and Saturday evenings it welcomes a younger crowd and is unique in Dalston for offering people a place to hang out and socialise into the early hours,” he said.

When news of the initial licensing decision came out, fans of the bar took to Twitter to register their unhappiness.

One claimed to be considering getting Efes’s entrance stamp tattooed on their hand, while another paid their respects via the medium of illustration.

Efes has been at the centre of a boom that has seen Dalston turn into a key night-time destination in recent years.

The growing number of people drawn to the area by its reputation as the new Shoreditch has brought tensions with some residents of the area, however.

Ursula Huws, secretary of the Rio Cross Residents Association, said that levels of noise and anti-social behaviour had increased in recent years.

“Around 2009 the friendly balance between residents, the local creative community, the daytime economy and the night-time economy started to go horribly wrong,” she said.

“We are regularly kept awake all night and emerge, exhausted, in the morning to streets that are littered with broken glass, cans, fast food remains, pools of vomit and an overwhelming stench of urine. There has been a dramatic increase in crime, including homophobic attacks.”

Ms Huws said the community was also suffering in other ways. “There is not just a knock-on effect on local residents but also on the daytime economy as ordinary shops close to be turned into bars and clubs,” she insisted.

Ms Huws said the number of licensed premises in the area had reached “saturation point”, and that some were badly managed.

“We certainly do not want to close down all the venues in the area. But we do want to be able to sleep at night and go about our daily lives,” she said.

No date has yet been set for Efes’s appeal hearing.