A major leisure site in Wembley has won its bid for longer opening hours.

Brent Council has approved a planning application that sought to extend the opening hours of Boxpark - a destination for food, events and games.

The venue currently remains open from 7am to 11pm on all days, while the bar inside stays accessible for two more hours till 1am from Thursday to Saturday every week.

After the decision, Boxpark can now be visited by the public between 7am and midnight from Thursdays to Saturdays and any Sunday before a bank holiday.

These hours will be tried for a period of 12 months. If approved, the site could remain open after that from 7am to 1am on those days.

In addition, a permission has been granted to the Boxbar, aka BeatBox bar, a temporary bar inside the building, to retain its current extended hours.

A 12-month trial was earlier approved for the bar to remain open from 7am to 1pm from Thursdays to Saturdays.

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The maximum capacity between 11pm and 1am was restricted to 250 people.

These trial hours for Boxbar have now been made permanent, meaning it can stay open until 1am even if the building itself shuts earlier.

However, the timings for Sunday to Wednesday, for both the building and the bar, will continue to be from 7am to 11pm.

No deliveries or collections from or to the premises can take place after 11pm or before 7am.

A public consultation was carried out by the venue, with 427 nearby occupiers and the Wembley Stadium Residents’ Advisory Committee notified of the application.

Five letters of objection were received, raising issues like noise and disturbance from “drunk and rowdy people.”

One comment said that while extended opening hours for special events is acceptable, it should not become the norm as it “feels unnecessary and disrespectful to those of us living in the vicinity.”

The planning officer highlighted that Wembley is a “town centre location” where night-time activity is “envisaged and encouraged” and nearby properties have been designed to “deal with the elevated levels of noise.”

Besides this, the officer noted, Boxbar is required to operate in accordance with the agreed operational management plan, which “mitigates noise and disturbance" from activities within the premises.

The council’s decision concluded: “Boxpark, whilst a temporary development, is an integral part of the social and economic life of Wembley Park, enhancing the night-time economy and supporting the function of the National Stadium, the Wembley Arena.

“Extending the opening hours, albeit for a temporary period to monitor potential impacts, will serve to further support the night time economy of Wembley.”