The Licensing Sub-Committee for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea was scheduled to convene a hearing to consider an application by Smash Operations Limited to vary the premises licence for McDonald's at 208 Earl's Court Road. The meeting was scheduled to take place on Thursday, 20 November 2025, at Kensington Town Hall. The report pack included within the Public reports pack 20th-Nov-2025 10.00 Licensing Sub-Committee.pdf contains the application and objections to it that the committee were scheduled to consider.

Application for Variation of Premises Licence for McDonald's, 208 Earl's Court Road

Smash Operations Limited applied to vary the existing premises licence for the McDonald's restaurant at 208 Earl's Court Road, London, SW5 9QB. The application sought to extend the hours for late-night refreshment, both indoors and outdoors, from 23:00 to 05:00 every day, and to extend the general opening hours to 24 hours a day. The existing licence permitted late night refreshment between 23:00 and 02:00.

The applicant, Smash Operations Limited, included a statement in Appendix B - Application.pdf confirming that they understood their duty to the local community and proposed a number of steps to promote the licensing objectives¹. These included:

• Maintaining a daily incident log.
• Operating CCTV² with a staff member trained in its use present at all times when the premises are open to the public, and ensuring that recordings are stored for a minimum of 31 days and made available to the police or licensing authority upon request.
• Training all staff in substance abuse awareness and the legal requirements relating to late-night refreshment.
• Employing a Security Industry Authority (SIA) registered door supervisor when required, based on a quarterly risk assessment.
• Installing a Staffsafe system with audio and visual monitoring capability.
• Conducting regular litter patrols within a 100-metre radius of the premises, at least three times daily.
• Organising meetings every six months with local ward councillors and residents' associations to discuss the operation of the premises.
• Ensuring that no music or amplified sound is generated within the premises so as to cause a nuisance to neighbouring dwellings.
• Using reasonable endeavours to ensure that delivery drivers behave in such a manner that will not cause noise disturbance.
• Implementing a Dispersal Policy.
• Sweeping and washing the pavement outside the premises regularly.
• Presenting waste no more than 30 minutes prior to its allocated waste collection time.
• Not depositing rubbish outside the premises, and ensuring that refuse collections do not take place during licensing hours.
• Ensuring that deliveries to the premises do not take place during licensing hours.

Representations Received

The licensing authority received representations from various parties, which were included in Appendix D - Representations_Redacted.pdf.

• Responsible Authorities: PC Ian Davis, on behalf of the Metropolitan Police, submitted a representation based on the prevention of public nuisance, raising concerns about delivery drivers. PC Davis requested that a Dispersal and External Management Plan be submitted for consultation, with measures to control noise generated by members of the public, employees, and delivery drivers.

• Other Parties: 166 representations opposing the application were received, including submissions from Councillors Linda Wade and Hamish Adourian, and several local residents' associations. The concerns raised included:

  • Increased crime and disorder.
  • Public nuisance, litter, and anti-social behaviour.
  • The impact on local residents due to noise and disturbance.
  • Concerns regarding delivery riders.
  • The cumulative impact of multiple late-night venues in the area.
  • The impact on public safety and the protection of children from harm.

• Two representations supporting the application were also received, which were included in Appendix E -Supporters-208 Earls Court Road-232895.pdf. These generally focused on the viability of the business, job creation, and support for the local night-time economy. However, they also suggested additional conditions to address concerns about delivery vehicles and security.

Other Information

• Four noise/nuisance complaints had been received regarding the premises in the preceding 24 months, as summarised in Appendix F.
• The premises had been the subject of 9 Temporary Event Notices in the past year, as listed in Appendix G.
• The planning department confirmed that a certificate of lawfulness for 24-hour use was refused in 2024, because the planning permission granted in 1983 included a condition that:

The premises shall not be open to the public for use hereby permitted other than between the hours of 8.00am and 12.00 midnight.

The planning officer noted that if the variation application was granted, its operation 24 hours a day would be in breach of planning control, and a further application would need to be made to the planning department to regularise the proposed hours. This information was included as Appendix H.

Licensing Policy and Guidance

The report pack included extracts from the Secretary of State's Guidance and the authority's Statement of Licensing Policy, as Appendix I and Appendix J respectively, for the sub-committee's consideration.

The sub-committee was reminded that in determining the application, it must have regard to the representations and take such steps as it considers necessary for the promotion of the licensing objectives.

Map of the Area

Appendix K included a map of the area, showing the location of the premises, existing licensed premises, and the locations of those who had objected to or supported the application.

List of Licensed Premises

Appendix L contained a list of licensed premises within the vicinity of the McDonald's.

Officer Contact

Miss S Dyball, Directorate of Environmental Health, was listed as the officer contact for any person wishing to inspect the background papers.