Families lose fight to stop Tower Bridge hotel getting booze license
Protesters have lost their battle to stop a 16-storey hotel that is being built opposite their homes getting a booze license when it opens next month.
Families claim they’ve already suffered noise nuisance and workmen drinking in the street outside their homes while the Grange Tower Bridge Hotel is under construction at Prescott Street in Whitechapel.
“Some of us already want to move out because the area has become detrimental to family life,” Danny Paine told Tower Hamlets licensing sub-committee.
“A drinks license after 11pm is unreasonable and will affect our children—our bedrooms are right opposite.
“We already get prostitutes on our doorstep and drunks and this will make it worse.”
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Families have suffered antisocial behaviour from the site for some years, he explained, which had been reported to police and the council many times.
The 252-bedroom hotel, part of a chain of 16 across London which also includes 120 apartments and a health club, applied for a license for a basement nightspot and second floor reception lounge.
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But protester Simon Haeems pointed out that smoking being banned in public places like hotels meant drinkers would ‘spill out’ onto the street.
“Drinks go with smoking,” he explained. “So they’d be drinking on the pavement.”
It was a “valid point,” licensing committee chair Peter Golds agreed—but the authority would ensure families would be protected.
The license was granted with conditions—no alcohol in the street, while the second-floor balcony overlooking nearby homes would be excluded from the licensed area.
