The rugby-themed bar near Allianz Stadium has been run by new operators since 2021
Owners of a bar near Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium have said they are “heartbroken” over its management by their tenants, after residents’ complained about antisocial behaviour from punters since they took over.
Karen and Colin Griffiths opened The Scrummery in 1996 near Allianz Stadium, formerly known as Twickenham Stadium, before letting the business to operators Bijal and Rupesh Soni in 2021.
The venue on Whitton Road had its licence reviewed by Richmond Council on Wednesday (June 10), after a request from residents who said they faced severe disruption on rugby days due to excessive noise and drunken behaviour from customers since it had been taken over by the new operators.
The review was supported by Richmond’s licensing team.
Residents said they had tried to engage with the Soni family for years to resolve the issues, which they said included loud music continuing long after matches, along with punters urinating in their gardens, harassing women and blocking the pavement.
The committee heard Mr and Mrs Soni had met with the owners, licensing officers and Met Police after residents complained about their management in 2023, where they set out plans to address concerns. But the authority again received complaints about disruption from the venue on match days last year, which resulted in another meeting with residents in January.
The committee met on Wednesday to consider a review of the venue’s licence, still held by Mr and Mrs Griffiths, along with an application by Mr and Mrs Soni for a new licence with tighter conditions to address the concerns raised.
Mr and Mrs Griffiths said they had issued Mr and Mrs Soni with a Section 25 eviction notice to take back the venue by August 31, which the Sonis’ legal representative said they would challenge in court.
Lib Dem councillor Katie Mansfield said the venue “runs more like a disco in the centre of Soho” on match days.
She said: “We are not against this running as a business. It’s the way it’s running and the fact that it is running for too long and for ways that are harming the local community.”
Neighbour Amanda Bail said noise from the venue since 2021 had been “intolerable” and she had dealt with aggressive behaviour from punters that made locals feel unsafe.
She said: “It goes on all day, 12 hours of solid thumping bass. I have two dogs, both of whom have to be put on medication now on rugby events because it’s so stressful for them.”
She added: “What’s gone from a very small café that used to serve hotdogs and burgers on rugby day has become a fully-fledged mini nightclub with major brewery sponsorship.”
Gary Inniss, another resident, said he lived with his 96-year-old mother-in-law who was “almost bedridden” and had said the “booming music from The Scrummery… torments her”.
Neighbour David Squires added: “I think as residents we’ve tried all reasonable means, informal means, friendly means, respectful means, to address the issues that have been ongoing since 2021. Whenever we’ve tried to do that, it’s been met with the similar kind of, ‘yes okay, we listen to you’… but nothing actually really happens.”
Colin Griffiths said he and Karen had let the business to the current operators on the basis it was a sushi restaurant, “there was no mention of this being run as a bar”.
He said they had worked with licensing officers to address issues raised by residents, only to find the operators had gone back to the “same bad old practices”.
Regarding their meeting earlier this year, he said: “It was used to demonstrate [the Sonis’] entitlement to run a business. At that point, we were so distressed we realised there was simply no way forward to work with these people and we took the decision to issue a Section 25, which meant we wouldn’t renew the lease.”
Mr Griffiths added: “I should add that this is a lifetime’s work for Karen. She’s run this for 30 years. She’s heartbroken by what’s happened.”
Barrister Gary Grant, representing Mr and Mrs Soni, said the new licence would resolve residents’ complaints. The application received 43 letters of support, including from residents and customers, and 15 objections.
Mr Grant stressed The Scrummery was “not alone in contributing to the issues on Whitton Road” as it was a key route to the stadium and had three off-licences serving people alcohol. He said most people congregating on the road were not its customers.
He said the Sonis had already put in place measures to tackle residents’ concerns after the meeting earlier this year.
Licensing experts observed the venue during matches on April 26 and May 16 and ruled the measures had worked, although residents said these were smaller matches and did not show they would be adequate for other events.
The new licence would require the venue to stop selling booze by 9pm and close by 10pm, along with monitoring noise and litter at least every two hours, using a noise-limiting device, removing any outside speakers, making sure customers did not spill outside the premises and regularly meeting residents.
Mr Grant said: “That, we say, is the proportionate and appropriate solution to the problems that you’ve heard about. Granting a licence to the operators has the huge benefit of making them, for the first time, legally accountable.”
He added: “My clients are not uncaring, irresponsible operators. They’ve gone an enormous way to try and solve the problems.”
Mrs Soni told the meeting: “We have made mistakes, I’m not saying we haven’t, and we want to rectify and make it right.”
Objecting residents and Mr and Mrs Griffiths said they continued to oppose the new licence over concerns the problems would continue.
Mr Griffiths said: “We had all the assurances endorsed, minuted and agreed by police, licensing, highways and community. Two years on here we are, same again. We’ve had enough, we can’t work, we have to simply take it back.”
The council’s decision on the review and new licence application will be published in the coming days.
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