Residents living close to a Beckenham restaurant have called it a “powerful magnet that draws in undesirable characters” and claim its loud music regularly keeps them awake on weekends. However, the restaurant director “feels as if she’s got a target on her back” following repeated council and police investigations into her business.
Bromley Council’s Licensing Sub-Committee heard an application from Pierluigi’s Pasta Fresca at 86-90 Beckenham High Street for a new premises licence on August 12. Pierluigi’s, a family-run Italian restaurant directed by Sofia Figuera Martin, applied to extend its opening hours and play recorded music in May.
This application was prompted by the council’s public health nuisance team request for a review of the restaurant’s current premises licence in March due to repeated noise complaints from nearby residents, with many claiming the eatery had transformed into a “quasi-nightclub”.
In this review, the sub-committee decided there was “ample and sufficient evidence” that licensing objectives had been undermined and it imposed new conditions which included the restriction of playing recorded music above a background noise level.
Pierluigi’s appealed to Bromley Magistrates’ Court against the decision and submitted the new application which was heard yesterday.
Pierluigi’s application
Ms Figuera Martin’s legal representative David Dadds said the new application was a “genuine attempt” to deal with the matters raised, and they wanted to potentially save both parties “hundreds of thousands of pounds” by withdrawing the court appeal.
Local police and Bromley’s own planning, public health nuisance and licensing teams all objected to the application and were present at the hearing.
The restaurant considered the numerous noise complaints to be “hearsay evidence” that lacked weight, and they accused Bromley Council and local police of conducting a “campaign of surveillance and intimidation verging on harassment” due to officers allegedly visiting the restaurant on a weekly basis despite restaurant staff always being “very civil and very cooperative”.
Pierluigi’s claimed they had been in contact with a whistleblower associated with the council who revealed to them that the council had carried out 42 unannounced visits to the restaurant between January 2024 and March 2025.
The alleged whistleblower also said that council officers had used derogatory language to refer to Ms Figuera Martin and her brothers in meetings.
Vibe dining
At the committee hearing, Pierluigi’s explained their ‘vibe dining’ business model which involves customers visiting the restaurant on weekend evenings and enjoying the dining experience which is accompanied by loud music provided by a DJ. “It’s not a club and you can’t just come in for drinks”, they clarified.
James Rankin, the legal representative of the Met Police, said this business model still strove “to create the sensation of a club feel” and that the DJ was there to encourage diners to dance. Ms Figuera Martin conceded this second statement was true.
Gerald Gouriet KC, the lawyer representing the council’s licensing and public nuisance teams, said: “It is in many ways an astonishing application that has been made, and it is certainly not appropriate”.
He pointed to the fact that Pierluigi’s had prompted 26 noise complaints from neighbours since May 2024.
Charles Tucker, an objector who lived “100 steps or so” from the restaurant said it had become “a source of misery for those who live near to it” on Friday and Saturday nights.
He called Pierluigi’s a “powerful magnet that draws in undesirable characters and anti-social behaviour from across the whole of South East London”, claiming he regularly witnesses diners picking up drugs outside his house before entering the restaurant.
Another nearby resident Peter Hopkins said he still has trouble sleeping at weekends due to the loud music, even though he wears earplugs at night.
“On a bad night, it’s like having somebody parked outside your bedroom window, with all the windows down and volume turned up full blast and it goes on for hours”, he said.
Both men said that the problems started happening post-Covid when the vibe dining business model had been introduced.
Alleged sexual assault
A significant portion of the licence application hearing was not open to the public because it concerned an alleged incident of sexual assault that took place at Pierluigi’s in the early hours of June 22.
Police have confirmed that the investigation into the incident was closed due to lack of evidence, it would be reopened should new information be reported and the victim was being supported throughout by specialist officers.
In regards to the alleged sexual assault, Mr Dadds said his client was “very passionate about standing up for women” and acted professionally when the incident occurred.
However, police argued that Ms Figuera Martin and her staff were “distinctly lacking in response” and it had “crossed their minds” that intimidation from the restaurant could have been the reason for the victim withdrawing their allegation. Piuerluigi’s denied any claims of intimidation.
Bromley Council’s Licensing Sub-Committee sat from 10am until 5pm yesterday hearing the application. It has yet to release its final decision.
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