Not content with branding anybody with concerns over noise, disruption and litter as past it old farts who should leave their family homes, the owner of Tinseltown has also ridiculed the whole of Hampstead, the community he purports to serve as a town of

Not content with branding anybody with concerns over noise, disruption and litter as past it old farts who should leave their family homes, the owner of Tinseltown has also ridiculed the whole of Hampstead, the community he purports to serve as a town of champion complainers.

His claim that he is all for dialogue and going about things the right way is not borne out by our experience. In previous meetings with locals he has arrived with his legal team, threatened residents with opening 24 hours per day serving milkshakes only if there was any attempt to reduce his food licence.

He also has indicated that he would respond to any attempt to limit his trading hours by going to the European Courts (as he obviously feels his right to open until 3am trumps any rights local families have to undisturbed sleep) and scandalously accused the complaints of being racially motivated.

Patently this situation cannot continue, his opposition to CCTV cameras under the pretext of "privacy" is telling. If the complaints are as baseless as he maintains and we are dealing with non issues surely CCTV will prove this once and for all and he will be vindicated, what does he have to lose? Doesn't the fact that an eat-in milkshake bar needs to employ security (to little effect) and send its staff out to pick litter up off the surrounding streets three times a day not indicate that there may be some antisocial problems associated with it ? Sadly handing out lollies to patrons is not nor has it ever been in the last couple of years they have been doing this, the solution to these problems.

I can agree with Mr Hasan on the need for more enforcement and the need to continually ticket the large numbers of irresponsibly parked vehicles coming in predominantly from outside the area late at night. Unfortunately the level of enforcement required will put a strain on both council and police resources and ultimately will be paid for by the local taxpayer. I'm not certain given Mr Hasan's opinion of local residents that this would unduly concern him.

The repeated defence from Tinseltown is that they do not serve alcohol, so what? There are numerous pubs and restaurants in Hampstead that serve alcohol and yet cause no problems for me or my family. I cannot see the relevance, the ongoing issues associated with Tinseltown, including but not limited to noise, littering, illegal parking, fighting and dangerous driving are there regardless of the fact that the premises serve no alcohol. Mr Hasan's assertion that the his patrons would be getting drunk on the Heath if not frequenting his milkshake bar says more about his view of his clientele than any of the "Horlicks Brigade" would be able to.

Tinseltown opened in 2005 with the promise to rock Hampstead on their website, a clear statement of intent, since then they have dismissed complaints and rebuffed any attempts at workable solutions which address the needs of the locality such as limiting the hours and restricting the takeaway trade. The article last week quoting Mr Hasan directly was welcome as it clearly demonstrates what he thinks of the local community. Having shown his true colours, hopefully now the various agencies and not just Cllr Kirsty Roberts, including consumer protection, traffic enforcement, police, council etc can work together to protect residents and deal with the ongoing issues with the urgency that is required.

Mr D Cohen

(address supplied)