Councillors let the Beckenham restaurant open to 1.30am on Fridays and Saturdays, with music to 12.30am, over officers' objections, adding terrace limits.

Pierluigi’s on Beckenham High Street has been granted a new licence with later hours, despite council officers asking for refusal. Bromley’s Licensing Sub-Committee made the decision on 7 September.

The restaurant at 86 to 90 High Street will be able to open until 1.30am on Fridays and Saturdays, and 1am on other nights, once the new licence takes effect. That is recorded in the minutes of the hearing, published with the papers for the council’s General Purposes and Licensing Committee meeting of 4 November.

The hours granted

Activity Monday to Thursday Friday and Saturday Sunday
Open to the public 10am to 1am 10am to 1.30am 10am to 1am
Alcohol, on the premises 10am to midnight 10am to 12.30am 10am to 11.30pm
Recorded music, indoors 10am to midnight 10am to 12.30am 10am to 11.30pm
Late night refreshment, indoors 11pm to 12.30am 11pm to 1am 11pm to 12.30am

Councillors deliberately set a gap between last orders and closing. They said it would allow tables to split bills and order taxis, and let customers wait inside until their car arrives.

Conditions added

The sub-committee kept the conditions on the existing licence, with some changes, and added new ones. They include:

  • outside areas, except the smoking area, cleared by 11pm from Sunday to Thursday and 11.30pm on Friday and Saturday
  • no outdoor regulated entertainment after 11pm on any day
  • acoustic curtains on the High Street windows and acoustic shutters on the side windows, closed by 10.30pm on Friday and Saturday and on any night a DJ is playing
  • a public phone number for the duty manager, and a complaints log

The existing licence must be surrendered within 21 days, or after any appeal ends. The new licence cannot be used until then.

What each side said

The council’s licensing and environmental health officers both objected on public nuisance grounds and asked for refusal. Two residents also spoke against it. Their concerns, the decision says, were late-night noise from music and disruption as customers left.

The minutes record the applicant’s case that the police did not object and that longer hours would allow a more gradual and orderly dispersal. Its representative said that no direct complaints had been made to the restaurant, and described the business as reservation-only and led by food. The minutes also record the environmental health officer agreeing that it had not been independently verified that the noise reported by residents came from the premises.

The sub-committee noted that ten summer nights of Temporary Event Notices had caused a number of complaints. It decided those issues could be mitigated rather than warranting refusal. It said it might have been open to requiring a Noise Management Plan first, but that environmental health had not given enough detail to make that clear and enforceable.

Separate proceedings continue. The minutes say a Noise Abatement Order was issued and is under appeal, and that the appeal was adjourned to early 2027. The sub-committee treated that as outside its decision.

What it means for you

Anyone living nearby can use the duty manager’s number once the new licence is in use, and can report noise to the council. We do not yet know whether anyone has appealed against the decision, or whether the new licence has taken effect.

We have not yet asked the restaurant or the objectors for further comment. If you are involved and want to respond, email hello@bromleyonline.co.uk.