One of the last remaining bars in Latimer Road has been ordered to make sure customers clear out after closing time despite celebrities opposing a review of its licence.

Model and actress Amber Anderson and writer Rachel Johnson joined a campaign to keep Ariadne’s Nectar Bar in Latimer Road open after noise complaints triggered a Kensington and Chelsea council licence review.

It was prompted by former councillor Eve Allison after residents complained to her about noise.

She told the review hearing: “People have a right to live day in and day out with relative peace.”

Ms Allison said residents from four different nearby addresses, who did not want to be identified, complained about “noise and nuisance” from private parties held between Thursdays and Sundays at the bar run by Demetri Kotsakis.

She said: "It is slowly destroying people’s lives. They can’t sleep, they can’t get rest.

“You begin to live your life from Monday to Wednesday and I don’t think that’s acceptable.”

Ariadne's Nectar Bar, Latimer Road. Picture by LDR Julia Gregory, free for use
Ariadne's Nectar Bar in Latimer Road

But journalist Rachel Johnson wrote in support of “this charming stalwart of the W10 community”.

She said: “Ariadne’s is well run by Mr Kotsakis and is a valuable asset to the community.”

Model and actress Amber Anderson made a video in support of the bar.

The star of the television adaptation of The Cuckoo’s Calling said she held her last two birthday parties at Ariadne’s.

She said: “True to form, the music is turned off at 10.30pm and the doors are closed.

“I have never witnessed any type of behaviour which has been violent or inappropriate.”

Clare Reihill, who is a trustee of the TS Eliot Estate, told the committee she had visited the bar nearly every week for 10 years.

She said: “It is a quiet bar, almost self-effacingly so, and entirely in keeping with the tone of the area”.

One unnamed resident who lives nearby wrote to the council highlighting noise and disturbance from people getting into taxis late at night and the review committee watched a series of videos shot late at night and in the early hours of the morning, shot by a resident near the bar.

Keith Mehaffy, the council’s senior environmental health officer, said: “What we have seen on the video does give me concerns. He is causing public nuisance to the neighbours.”

He said the footage showed people on the forecourt outside the bar late at night. The licence says it should be clear between 10pm and 7am.

Journalist Rachel Johnson

He said there was a previous licensing review hearing back in 2009 after police “witnessed extremely poor management”.

An abatement order was served in 2015 after allegations that people were drinking loudly outside and music noise was escaping from the bar after 11pm.

Bar owner Mr Kotsakis said he has been using a sound limiting device for several years.

He told the committee private parties “had been my lifeline for some time”, but this has changed recently.

He accepted customers have sometimes been in the bar late but agreed to ensure they leave within 30 minutes of closing in the future.

Adrian French, who worked opposite the bar sometimes until 1am, told the committee: “There has never been any noise or anything. There has never been any trouble.”

After a lengthy hearing, Kensington and Chelsea council’s licensing committee imposed new conditions and chairman Charles Williams told Mr Kotsakis there “must be an improvement”.