Residents oppose Borough Market tapas bar over noise concerns

A posh new tapas bar is coming to Bankside but fed-up locals say they don’t care whether the restaurant sells “fried mars bars or has two Michelin stars”.

Spanish and Italian tapas chain Salt Yard Group is set to open a new venue opposite Borough Market, leading residents to fear their lives will be made a misery by nuisance delivery drivers.

The restaurant will serve Mediterranean small plates seven days a week to diners.

Salt Yard says the venue will cater for “premium” customers and create up to 30 jobs once up and running. It is Salt Yard Group’s fifth eatery in London and the second under the Salt Yard name.

But locals say they aren’t bothered about the restaurant’s reputation and are worried noisy delivery drivers fetching takeaways from it will stop their children sleeping.

Bankside resident Roy Palmer said he didn’t care how posh the restaurant was if he had to keep his windows closed in hot summer weather.

Speaking at a Southwark council licensing meeting on February 24, he said: “The licensing objectives don’t care if a restaurant sells fried Mars bars or has two Michelin stars.

“And nor do we if a restaurant’s patrons or their bottle disposals or their Ubers are waking up our children and forcing us to keep our windows sealed all weekend and on warm summer nights.

“It’s not just that poshness is not a licensing consideration. Premises change hands. If this site gets a licence, the next licence on it may not be posh at all.

“We are sure that Salt Yard sells nice sherry and serves nice tapas. But that is not our concern here today.”

Salt Yard Group said the business was focused on doing the right thing and that the new venue would attract sensible customers only.

Alun Thomas, representing Salt Yard Group, said: “We are a responsible operator and we believe in sustainability and we don’t have single use plastics.”

He added: “We’re not a McDonalds. We do have a very different price point than the sort of takeaway venues that tend to cause the problem. “

Salt Yard owner, Nick Pring, said noise wouldn’t be a problem because of the class of customer the venue would attract.

He said: “One would expect it would be frequented by more premium customers.

“We don’t have the type of customer that would be noisy anyway.”

Cllr Renata Hamvas, chair of the committee,  said: “Premium or not premium they are still drunk patrons and they can be noisy and disruptive.”

The new restaurant is in the Borough and Bankside Cumulative Impact Area.

According to Southwark council policy, applications from venues wanting to serve alcohol in this location are supposed to be turned down or face restrictions if selling alcohol will make noise and antisocial behaviour worse.

But Cllr Adele Morris, Liberal Democrat member for Borough and Bankside ward, said she felt this policy was being ignored.

Speaking at the meeting, she said: “We have got a Cumulative Impact Policy. At what point is this going to be taken seriously?

“Planning sets the hours according to the protection of the local amenities. You are going to be in the heart of a community. I’m just fed up of this.”

Cllr Renata Hamvas said that in the future restaurants and bars would be expected to try and find an agreement with residents in Cumulative Impact Areas before bringing their applications before councillors.