Blackadder star Tim McInnerny leads fight to stop quiet Holborn backstreet becoming the 'new West End'

 
Campaign: Tim McInnerny (Picture: Nigel Howard)

Blackadder star Tim McInnerny is leading a neighbourhood fight to stop a quiet Holborn backstreet being transformed into the “new West End”.

McInnerny, 58, who played Captain Darling and Lord Percy in the sitcom, is opposing a series of bids by bars and restaurants to extend opening and licensing hours.

He joined neighbours at a town hall meeting last week to fight the latest application, from Chinese restaurant and karaoke bar Canton Element.

The actor, who lives with costume designer Annie Gosney, said: “We are not old-fogey fuddy-duddies. We live in the centre of London but do not, we would contest, live in the West End.”

Canton Element, on Red Lion Street, applied to Camden council in the wake of business generated by the arrival of a 150-bedroom Premier Inn.

McInnerny said the area had “changed hugely” since the hotel arrived. Ms Gosney said: “Once you extend the licensing hours you extend potentially the time people are stood right under our windows, where we sleep.”

However, Canton Element was granted permission to open until midnight on weekdays and 10.30pm on Sundays, when it is currently closed.

Owner Itagira Steinmetz said: “There is no way this little area is becoming like a new West End. We’re not a noisy business. We want to open until midnight on Sunday and we may apply for that next.” The venue’s application is the second to face hostility recently, with attempts to open café and bar Fairly Square until 2am rejected last year.

Holborn councillor Awale Olad said Camden must not let the area become “the West End all over again”. The council said the licence was agreed subject to a series of conditions.

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