Long-suffering Fulham residents hoping to see the opening hours of a notorious bar curtailed will have to wait until February for a decision.

In June, Hammersmith and Fulham Council's licensing committee ordered Fiesta Havana in Fulham Broadway to close at 11pm rather than 2am following a litany of complaints about revellers romping and urinating in the street, causing mayhem until the early hours.

But the bar's owners appealed against the ruling in July and, after a hearing at West London Magistrates' Court , it was decided the case will not be heard until February.

Barclay Road Residents' Association chairman Richard Pownall described the delay as 'galling'.

The 40-year-old retail manager said: "In my view it's a failing of the law. As far as we are concerned this should be top priority and it is very galling this has been put off until February. They lost the appeal hearing in June but they are now allowed to trade as normal for seven months after that decision."

At the June meeting, police officers submitted 71 witness statements claiming some of the bar's customers had been violent, excessively drunk and intimidating. Police spokesman Rachel Kapila told councillors at that meeting that: "Drunkenness is the principal issue - people are being served alcohol when they are drunk in Havana's. Some can barely walk on leaving the bar and some have even been described as 'almost comatose'."

A spokesman for the bar said since the licence review the Havana had been 'incident free'. She added: "We have continued to work very closely with the local police to ensure that we operate without causing nuisance to them or the local community."