Marija Skauminaite, Cleide Brogio and Ken Pyne hand in the petition at Camden Council’s headquarters in King’s Cross

STAFF at a pub that is being threatened with a licence review over noise complaints have handed a hastily-organised petition with nearly 500 signatures in at the Town Hall.

The King William IV in Hampstead has been accused of having problems with disturbances from drinkers leaving late at night.

The pub and its veteran landlord Jimmy McGrath has denied the problems are down to them, and have taken action to minimise its impact – including hiring a bouncer, making musicians play acoustically rather than using amplifiers and closing doors at the height of summer.

Marija Skauminaite, who has been manager at the pub for seven years, and colleague Cleide Brogio handed in the petition on Monday, alongside Ken Pyne, the Private Eye cartoonist who is a regular at the pub in Hampstead High Street.

Ms Skauminaite said: “I just think it’s ridiculous. We have been here for six or seven years and literally nothing has changed in all these years.

“The music has been the same, the opening hours have been the same and suddenly there has been a few complaints and they are trying to affect what is a big part of Hampstead High Street. “I don’t know why they have moved next to a pub and complained.”

She added: “It would be really problematic if they change our licence, if they made us reduce our hours or something like that.”

It comes as Edward de Mesquita, the owner of the Hampstead crêperie which has been on its site since 1980, has signed the petition and said the pub should be supported. The bar and the crêperie had previously disagreed about whose customers were causing more noise in the street.

Mr de Mesquita said he agreed with the document: “I went up there on Saturday and Sunday to see it for myself and I have to be honest it’s quite clear that there is no problem from the pub at all. “Jimmy has taken actions, and there is sometimes a delay in people noticing, but he has dealt with it and from what I saw there is no problem at all.”

Jimmy McGrath at the King William IV

People could be seen sitting and standing outside the Art Gallery opposite the pub late on Saturday night. “It seems to be an area people gather in,” said Mr de Mesquita. “I grew up in Hampstead and that has always been the case.”

Mr McGrath previously said: “They’ve [the complainants] never been in to talk to me about any problems, and I’d happily do so.”

“They know who I am, but I don’t know who they are, so I can’t go and talk to them about it. “We’re a community pub – we raise money for charity, we’re the only pub that provides public toilets in Hampstead because the council doesn’t, and we’re lively – but that’s the beauty of the pub and the people we get in here. It’s different to everywhere else.”

Camden Council declined to comment but said the licence review will be heard by a panel on October 6.