A bar has been stripped of its licence after a string of late-night parties left sleep-deprived neighbours fuming.

Waltham Forest council’s licensing committee chose to shut down A&J Restaurant and Bar, in Lea Bridge Road, Leyton, at a hearing yesterday (Wednesday, March 29).

Nearby residents had lodged more than 30 noise complaints against the nightspot between March 2015 and January this year.

The saga culminated on Thursday, December 22, 2016, when council officers reported hearing loud music from the bar through walls at a neighbour’s home during a "customer appreciation party".

Officers said music could still be heard coming from the premises when they left the scene at 12.38am, long after the bar’s licensed weekday closing time of midnight.

Councillors were told how one neighbour had become addicted to sleeping pills after parties at the venue had kept him awake as late as 5.30am.

In a statement, the resident said: “These people have caused me so much anxiety and stress. I am not able to sleep.

“I need to be alert and focused at work. For that reason I have started taking sleeping pills. I am now addicted to them and not able to sleep without them.

“I am so nervous to go to bed because I never know when they are having a party. These people do not have respect for anyone.”

A&J's was opened in February 2014 by owner Bolanle Balogun as an Afro-Caribbean restaurant and bar, also operating as a venue for private parties.

Police told councillors before Mr Balogun took over the business, it had operated as an unlicensed premises which officers had: “on occasions had issues with”.

Mr Balogun said his business had more than 5,000 regular customers and pleaded with the committee in a bid to retain his licence.

He said: “The premises has been known for more than 20 years for being this type of business.

“It is more or less an iconic setting- that is the reason we chose to open at the premises as it has been well known as an Afro-Caribbean centre for a long period of time.

“Since I have taken over the premises, I have made sure it is not frequented by any hooligans and there have been no reports of gun crime, like with the previous owners, or disorder.

“I know my neighbours, I talk to them, we are not neighbours from hell, if they have complaints I am quite happy to deal with them.”

However, the committee chose to revoke the bar’s licence after council officers claimed there was: “nothing to suggest the situation will change in the future”.

Mr Balogun will have 21 days to appeal the decision.