Ex-club boss Billy Reilly given restaurant go-ahead for arches under Camden Road station

Published: 7 October, 2010
by JOSIE HINTON

A FORMER nightclub owner has won a two-year battle to open a restaurant in a derelict Camden Town bar.

Billy Reilly, who ran the late-night Cross venue in King’s Cross, was given the green light for a new venture in the arches under Camden Road railway station, previously Bar Fink, after agreeing to a strict set of conditions.

The application to serve alcohol until midnight on Friday and Saturday nights and until 11.30pm from Monday to Thursday was originally rejected by Town Hall licensing chiefs in March, following concerns it would operate as a nightclub. 

But during a hearing at Highbury Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, residents who fought against the licence agreed not to continue in their campaign if Mr Reilly guaranteed to operate within certain terms.

He agreed there would be no vertical (standing) drinking, that the bar area will only be open to customers who have booked a table, and that customers will not be allowed to use the outside courtyard as a smoking area. He also agreed to a total capacity of 120.

Mr Reilly’s barrister Noel McNamee said: “Mr Reilly has spent two years trying to achieve an outcome for this venue to be used. 

“It’s a big relief to come here today and find the residents were able to agree to the terms we have put forward. It’s just a shame this couldn’t have been achieved a year ago.” 

A spokesman for the residents said they were satisfied with the conditions that had been agreed to, but added: “The concern is that there are already lots of establishments in the vicinity and we are just on the edge of the special policy area. We will now have to wait and see how it goes.”

At the initial hearing in March, residents described how the area was already blighted by disruptive behaviour and said they were often woken up by revellers from nearby bars.