A bar that lost its alcohol licence claims it has been treated unfairly because the owners are black.

Police asked Wandsworth Council to ban Leilani Restaurant and Ashanti Lounge Bar in Battersea from selling alcoholic drinks and holding entertainment following a “violent incident” in November 2018.

The Licensing Sub-Committee decided at a meeting in January to revoke the premises licence because of a series of  problems – not considering the violent incident in detail.

But manager Marsha Parkes said the council was “nitpicking” and “malicious” with the way it went about the review.

Police and licensing officials told the committee that there had been persistent noise complaints about the venue and CCTV rules were not being followed as agreed.

They admitted at the meeting that only one of the noise complaints could be substantiated – as there were no staff available to check at the time.

But there were also apparently inadequate arrangements in place for New Year’s Eve, with two security staff rather than three, a later-than-agreed closing time and no temporary event notice.

Ms Parkes said: “I feel like Wandsworth Council was throwing accusations around, blaming me for noises like people laughing in the street. It’s ridiculous.”

The bar in Lavender Hill had previous trouble with the authorities when it lost its licence in 2014 after a customer was assaulted.

A new licence application was rejected in 2015, but was then granted following an appeal to a magistrates court.

In 2016 the licence lapsed because a company dissolved, so a new application was made and the licence was granted.

Ms Parkes said: “They bought into the history of the premises, and pinned it on the premises itself despite the new management in place.

“I think they have a fear that this restaurant harbours ‘bad black people’, even though there’s no evidence of that.

“Police don’t get called here often – not even once a year. We don’t have those kinds of problems.”

Ms Parkes suggested that there were different standards being applied to Leilani than other venues are held to – a claim the council denies.

She said: “I used to work in another bar in Wandsworth, and in the time I was there we were calling the police every couple of weeks. They never lost their licence.

“That was a white owned business.

“They had punters smashing windows and breaking glasses.

“We’ve had a couple of incidents and we’re being indicted for it. The question is why.”

 A Wandsworth Council spokesman rubbished the suggestion that Leilani’s owners were treated differently than others in the borough.

He said: “The police requested that we revoke the licence for these premises on the grounds of crime and disorder.

“After hearing the police’s evidence, which highlighted a catalogue of very serious incidents where the terms of their drinks licence had been breached, the committee agreed to the police’s request.”