The owner of SD Lounge must now comply with 32 new licensing conditions

The operator of a late night music bar at Tulse Hill Station has been told by the licensing authorities that his business is now in “the last chance saloon” unless he cracks down on dodgy customers including people suspected of having firearms on his premises.

The SD Lounge at Station Rise was given a list of 32 new conditions by the Lambeth Licensing Committee and told that any breach could result in him having the operation closed down and his license withdrawn. It specialises in playing “bashment, R + B, and soul”, which the police said “attracts a minority of undesirable types intent on causing trouble.”

Police submitted evidence at the hearing of “intelligence” that they said they had received about firearms allegedly being on the premises on specific dates January 2009 and on another occasion in 2008 although no proof was available. The licence holder denied that there was any truth in the firearms’ claims and disputed the need for any further restrictions to his business. He claimed to have stopped allowing other operators to hold late night parties at the venue and that no one had complained to him about noise.

Speaking on behalf of residents who were too intimidated by a minority of the bar’s customers to give evidence in person, Councillor John Whelan, Thurlow Park Ward Member, said residents had been repeatedly disturbed in the early hours of the morning by loud music from the bar and rowdy customers massing on the pavement and urinating in the street. The operator agreed to adhere to the new conditions which the licensing committee has now officially attached to his licence.