Owners of a new-look pub in Cambridge have been warned the site is jinxed.
City councillor Margaret Wright said residents would suffer if the venue, at Mitcham’s Corner, dodged regulations in order to make it profitable.
Pub giant J D Wetherspoon will open The Tivoli on the site of the former Graduate pub, in Chesterton Road, next month.
Cllr Wright, a resident of Mitcham’s Corner, said the history of previous pubs there was one of financial disaster.
Citing the establishment’s troubled history over the last 20 years, she said: “It seems that owners and licensees of this venue in the past have had difficulty in making ends meet.
“This has led to regulations being infringed and existing limitations being infringed.
“It is the local community which bears the brunt of this. Owners can simply move on, leaving an abandoned site behind”.
Cllr Wright added: “I share the concerns of many who are seeking tight controls regarding The Tivoli.
“I’m not saying that Wetherspoon aren’t able to run a successful pub, they obviously are, but that site has seen them come and go and they haven’t done well. It has a very troubled history”.
Cllr Wright was echoing calls from fellow city councillor Max Boyce, who represents West Chesterton. He said he was determined to ensure strict licensing conditions were imposed to protect residents living near the pub, as the News has reported.
The Tivoli’s opening hours have not been confirmed but the venue has a licence to stay open until midnight for six nights and until 2am on Saturday nights.
Cllrs Boyce and Wright have urged residents to have their say during a public consultation on the licensing conditions, which ends on Friday.
The venue, which has been closed for two years, is undergoing a £1.1 million refurbishment. The revamped pub will take the name of the cinema which once occupied the building.
A spokesman for the pub chain said the pub, scheduled to open on July 16, would create 44 jobs.
