Union Bar & Restaurant Ltd repeatedly allowed indoor smoking and antisocial behaviour on the premises

Enfield Council has permanently revoked a Palmers Green restaurant’s licence to operate after the business was repeatedly warned about indoor smoking and antisocial behaviour.

Union Bar & Restaurant Ltd at 56 Aldermans Hill received several warnings and inspection visits from the council’s environmental health officers last year, with 15 complaints being made by local residents and councillors.

One of the major issues frequently seen during inspection visits was smoking in an enclosed area, which is illegal. The restaurant also breached licence conditions by serving alcohol without table meals, placed tables and chairs on the highway, played loud music at night and produced no documented training records for the sale of alcohol.

Visitors to the premises were found on several occasions to have parked illegally, while Metropolitan Police officers also expressed concerns about antisocial behaviour.

Other breaches reported by the council included ‘leave quietly’ notices not being displayed, no public protection space order notice in place, rubbish being disposed of at the wrong times, no ‘Think 25’ notice displayed, no signage relating to zero tolerance to drugs and no refusals book kept.

The business received and paid eight fixed penalty notices in 2025 for not putting up ‘no smoking’ signs on walls of the premises after being instructed to do so by the council.

But the council’s licensing sub committee ultimately decided last month to revoke the business’s licence entirely.

Susan Erbil, the council’s cabinet member for planning and regulatory services, said: “The council exhausted all enforcement attempts in this case, including the serving of warnings, inspections, and fixed penalty notices, but they [the business owners] chose to ignore our attempts to advise them to stay within the law and within their licensing conditions.

“Several complaints were also received from residents and the council took on these concerns seriously and acted promptly within its power.

“This kind of behaviour damages our communities. We don’t want people, particularly young women and girls, to feel intimidated when walking down our high streets. We are here to support local businesses to operate safely and legally but we will take the strongest possible action to punish offenders.”

In addition to the action taken by the council, Home Office immigration enforcement officers visited Union Bar & Restaurant last April, when they discovered a member of staff in the kitchen who did not have the right to work in the UK.

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