One of the most popular restaurants in central London could have to cut back its opening hours after residents complained of noise, including “chef chopping” and “washing up dishes”.
Persian restaurant Naroon, in Fitzrovia, was one of the most booked restaurants on TheFork, website and app, and expanded last year to include three sites.
But its eatery on New Cavendish Street will have its licence reviewed by Westminster City Council after “a long series of public nuisances caused to the residential neighbourhood.”
Neighbours have been “strongly affected” by the restaurant, particularly at the back of the restaurant, council documents show.
“Staff shouting, on the phone, eating in the courtyard, kitchen door being open all day and night with noise from the chef chopping, banging to tender meat, kitchen staff washing up dishes, that can be heard at all time until very late,” have all been disturbing residents, council officers wrote in a report.
There were also complaints that staff could be heard in the courtyard until 1am most days, and about noisy extractor fans that appear to be installed without planning permission.
One nearby resident wrote to Westminster council: “The kitchen door is never closed, so we can hear all day long and night: kitchen staff shouting, on the phone, Chef banging all day long to apparently tender the meat.
“There is a not a single period of more than 15 minutes which is quiet. The kitchen extractor is also extremely loud and beyond Westminster sound limits… They also clean their premises overnight and drag their furniture, which is making an unbearable noise in the whole building.”
Neighbours living near a private courtyard where the restaurant has seven outdoor tables “are not able to open their windows anymore without suffering from hearing people chatting, eating together with the smell from food,” the council report added.
There were also complaints that the restaurant is frequently used for parties and that the outdoor tables in the private courtyard are used until around 11pm every day.
Another neighbour wrote: “After 11pm at night they seem to empty all their glass recycling into bins outside their kitchen door and the staff are constantly out there smoking and talking.
“The kitchen door is open whenever the restaurant is open so we hear all the staff talking, glasses and plates clattering and other general catering noises.”
Council officers said they believe a “strong limitation of outdoor activity… should be imposed, especially over the weekend given the close residential neighbourhood”.
Westminster’s licensing committee will also look at reducing the restaurant’s hours, especially in the evening, as it has been breaching its permitted opening times.
Founded by cousins Reza and Mohammed Malekzadeh in 2020, Naroon serves dishes including sosis bandari (a sandwich filled with spicy sausage, onion and tomato sauce), a Persian omelette, and nargesi (spinach and eggs).
Mr Malekzadeh moved to the UK from Iran in 2018 and after finding success with a food delivery start-up, opened Naroon with Reza, who was born in Tehran but grew up in the UK and started out in management consultancy.
He also appears to have enjoyed a short-lived pop career.
Naroon has been contacted for comment.
