Simmons Soho bar expansion rejected after neighbours put through ‘living hell’

By Alicia Curry, Local Democracy Reporter

A popular London bar chain has suffered a setback to its West End expansion plan after councillors rejected permission for an extension to its site following a flood of complaints.

Simmons Soho cocktail bar applied for the retrospective application to conjoin its existing site at 2 Bateman Street and its newer acquisition at 3 Bateman Street next door.

Simmons has been operating from number 3 since January 2021 but Westminster council took enforcement action over a lack of planning permission in May last year.

Council planning officers recommended the councillors sign off on permanent permission for the use of the building before a meeting on Tuesday evening.

But residents shared details of their “living hell” over the issues of noise and behaviour of revellers after dark, with claims including that people had been caught “defecating and vomiting in the street”.

Mr Mark Wallinger, a local resident objecting to the plans, said in the meeting: “They’ve been working unlawfully for a year and a half as a far as I’m concerned. It’s a very fine distinction where the drink gets passed.”

Simmons bar refutes this claim and argues it has a valid license for the number 2 building and no point of sale was made inside number 3.

Mr Wallinger added: “The fact of the matter was we went through a kind of living hell of noise and disturbance and so I find this whole meeting rather fatuous really.

“There should be some sort of legal sanctions. The noise doesn’t cease after the last orders, people continue drinking on the street, shouting and screaming into the early hours.”

He questioned: “Must we endure the noise, violence, drug dealing and people defecating and vomiting in the street?”

The Soho Society and councillor Jessica Toale echoed Mr Wallinger’s sentiments, claiming that the expansion would only add to an area highly concentrated with drinking establishments and increase the risk of antisocial behaviour.

Cllr Toale said: “This application reduces diversity from what was a coffee bar to an alcohol-led bar and the impact undermines the character of Soho rather than enhancing it.”

She added: “It [Bateman Street and Greek Street] has been afflicted by a spate of recent violent crime, including the stabbing of two off-duty police officers just in March.”

However head of operations for Simmons, Kelsey Brennan, argued that it has tackled all reported troubles, including noise and violence.

“We’ve operated at 2 Bateman Street since 2015,” he said. “And the only known concerns in that time have been the management of customers standing outside on the pavements outside the premises in 2022, which was immediately addressed.”

He also claims that the increased surveillance of the locality results in “reduced crime and disorder”.

But despite his defence, the council unanimously rejected the planning application. Plans for the future of the site are not yet known.

Pictured top: Simmons bar in Bateman Street, Soho (Picture: Google Street View)