Cambridge: Taco Bell licence granted to allow 4am opening

Cambridge City Council agreed to extend the time the takeaway restaurant in Market Street could open for after no objections were raised from members of the public.

The restaurant had originally applied to be able to open until 4am when it first opened last year, but councillors restricted the opening until 2am after concerns were raised by neighbours about the noise and disruption this could cause.

While no objections were raised from the public about the latest application, concerns about the extension were raised by some city councillors.

They said they had concerns about the impact longer hours could have on the city centre, and that the restaurant had not yet been open for long enough to show it had good processes in place to deal with people congregating in the area at night.

However, representatives of the company, Taco-Time Limited, said the restaurant had an experienced management team and that there had been no issues since it opened due to the management and “strict controls” in place.

They also said four ‘tests’ had been run to show the restaurant could manage opening until 4am without causing a negative impact.

They said the original concerns about noise and anti-social behaviour had “not manifested”.

Speaking to councillors at a licensing sub-committee this week (Monday, May 22), they said: “Taco-Time Ltd is a premium operator that has extensive training procedures in place.

“No Taco-Time premises licence has ever been reviewed or revoked. The Cambridge branch has an extremely experienced management team.

“There have been no representations from responsible authorities, particularly police and environmental health.

“The use of temporary event notices without incident shows the premises are able to operate without adding to the cumulative impact.

“We see no negative evidence put before the committee, only positive evidence. There will be no negative impact [of the extension].”