A community centre will be allowed to sell alcohol and play music throughout the week to cater for religious events and pensioners.

Darji Mitra Mandal Hindu Community Centre, in Oakthorpe Road, Palmers Green, has been given permission to serve alcohol from 11am seven days a week.

The centre was previously only allowed to supply alcohol from 7pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

It will also be allowed to play music and stage dance performances from 11am to 11pm from Sunday to Thursday.

Darji Mitra Mandal of the UK (DMMUK), which owns the centre, originally applied to extend its opening hours until 1.30am on weekends and 12.30am on weekdays.

But at a licensing committee meeting on Wednesday (October 2), the owners agreed to stick to the current closing times – midnight on Friday and Saturday and 11.30pm during the rest of the week.

DMMUK president Pravin Jivan told the meeting: “We have applied for this licence because some of our religious events take place during the daytime.

“Old-age pensioners especially asked us if they could have a tipple or two during lunchtime – so we said we will apply for an extension of the licence.”

Mr Jivan claimed the centre had not received any complaints since 2007 and had soundproofed doors and installed triple-glazed windows.

He added: “We have taken all the precautions we can to make sure neighbours are not disturbed.”

But neighbours warned existing noise, parking and anti-social behaviour problems could worsen if councillors agreed to grant the licence.

One Oakthorpe Road resident told the meeting: “I have personally witnessed street fights in the road from people leaving your premises, and we have gone out there and tried to calm things down.

“I can’t imagine a caretaker going out to resolve these issues with any success. My fear is [these issues] will happen more often with an extension of the hours.”

As well as the community centre, Oakthorpe Road is home to a mosque, an old people’s home and a secondary school.

The resident added: “This will add to traffic issues. There are already complaints about double parking. My drive is parked in front of, and it is very awkward to get in and out.”

Another neighbour said he had called the centre “six to eight times” to make complaints – and his wife had called “probably double that”.

He said: “When you say you have not had a complaint in a decade I vehemently disagree.”

But Mr Jivan said his organisation had put signs up telling people to leave the premises quietly, as well as installing CCTV cameras.

He added people who wanted to use the centre were vetted to ensure they were suitable and would not cause a disturbance.

Mr Jivan pointed out that not all of the parking problems would be linked to people using the centre.

After discussing the matter in private, the committee approved the alcohol licensing hours agreed to during the meeting.

The owners will have to comply with 16 conditions set out by the council, including ensuring a caretaker is on duty whenever the centre is in use, keeping doors and windows shut when live music is played and regularly monitoring noise levels.

Committee chairman Cllr Chris Bond (Labour), Southbury, advised neighbours to report some of the parking and anti-social behaviour issues to the police and other relevant authorities.