A Pizza Hut restaurant in Hammersmith has been granted an extended licence to allow delivery drivers to collect orders until the early hours of the morning, despite objections from local residents concerned about noise and disruption.
Licence extension details
The King Street branch, located near Ravenscourt Park, applied to vary its existing licence to enable deliveries beyond midnight. Under the new terms, deliveries will be permitted until 1am from Sunday to Thursday, and until 2am on Fridays and Saturdays. However, the restaurant will close to walk-in customers at midnight every day.
The licence variation was approved following a meeting of Hammersmith and Fulham Council's Licensing Sub-Committee, with conditions agreed with the Metropolitan Police. These include installing high-definition CCTV, maintaining a daily incident log, and implementing staff training.
Resident concerns
Two objections were submitted during the consultation period: one from the council's Noise and Nuisance Team and another from a local resident. John Garcia, of the Noise and Nuisance Team, warned that the restaurant is in a densely populated area and that extended hours could increase disturbance to neighbours.
Local resident Adam Swift expressed his concerns at the sub-committee meeting, stating: "If it was further down towards the gyratory where there’s a lot of licensed premises that continue until 2 to 3 in the morning, I would totally understand it. But this particular part of King Street, everything is more or less dead quiet after 11pm. So it's very likely it would give rise to complaints."
Pizza Hut's response
Syed Hussain, Operations Manager at the Pizza Hut, acknowledged the restaurant is in a mixed-use area and that deliveries are a concern. However, he stressed that the application does not request the premises to remain open for walk-ins after midnight, and that beyond that time, it will be delivery-only.
Regarding the management of delivery drivers, Mr Hussain stated that while they will not be directly employed by Pizza Hut, they will be monitored, and any issues will be flagged and resolved. He also noted a significant increase in demand for deliveries, which has grown from 10-12% of sales a couple of years ago to 40-50% today.
Committee decision
Sub-committee members agreed to grant the licence variation alongside the conditions agreed with the police. A separate Pizza Hut in Charlton was recently granted later opening hours despite similar concerns about delivery driver behaviour.
