A controversial plan to give a restaurant a late night alcohol licence has been approved despite large numbers of complaints from nearby residents.

Restaurant owner Andreea Mosteanu will be allowed to keep her new business, in Queens Road, Buckhurst Hill, open until 11pm every evening.

Councillors sitting on Epping Forest Council’s licensing committee yesterday (Tuesday August 15), heard there had been some 19 written objections from nearby residents to the plans.

Ms Mosteanu had run the now closed Il Bacio Cicchetti restaurant on the site with her husband, but plans to launch a new business on her own under the name Il Petalo.

Il Bacio Cicchetti was subject to 12 official complaints from neighbours over alleged breaches of its licence between December 2013 and December 2015.

Complaints included claims the restaurant was staying open past its licenced closing time of 11pm and allegations of late night noise in the property’s garden.

Miss Mosteanu’s solicitor, Chris Hopkins, told the committee: “Her relationship with her husband has broken down, as a result of that she has decided to put in a new application.

“Miss Mosteanu is looking to completely disassociate herself from the old business of Il Bacio. This would be an Italian restaurant with the emphasis on it being a restaurant.

“You may hear concerns from residents in due course, understandably, this is why we have this process.

“However, any concerns brought before you that this is effectively a bar-come-restaurant are in my submission, incorrect. Drinking will very much be a secondary issue, with the emphasis on food.”

Several residents living close to the business attended the meeting to voice concerns over the plans.

Kevin Lucas, whose garden backs onto the business, said: “Our prime concern is purely noise, we are very concerned we will be unable to sit in our gardens in the evenings.

“My wife and I sleep at the back of the house, if there is noise still at 10.30 in the evening and we have gone to bed we are going to be disturbed.

“We do find from time to time other businesses close to this leave their windows open and we do get the noise from that.”

The committee approved licencing hours of 11am to 11pm every day for the restaurant, during which times it will also be allowed to stage live music performances.