New chicken wings bar and restaurant to open in Hemel Hempstead

A restaurant and bar promising award-winning New York style chicken wings has been given the green light to open in Hemel Hempstead.

The Orange Buffalo currently have restaurants in Tooting, Hoxton, and Brighton but a new location is now set to open within the Riverside Shopping Centre.

Beyond its food offering, the venue is also promising live sport and DJs.

At a meeting of Dacorum Borough Council’s Licensing of Alcohol and Gambling sub-committee on Thursday, November 9, councillors granted the franchise a licence to serve alcohol.

The application promises the new venue will, “offer a New York style chicken wing restaurant and bar, with live sport on television, and recorded music with DJs on Fridays and Saturdays, and the provision of outside seating.”

Work has already begun to add signage to the venue which sits next to TK Maxx in Hemel Hempstead town centre.

Councillor Rob Beauchamp (Conservative, Hemel Hempstead Town) had objected to the application, raising concerns that the playing of music up to 1am in the morning would be inappropriate for the area.

While he was not representing any residents in his objection, the councillor said he was concerned that the area is a “fast growing residential area” and wanted to ensure this was taken into consideration by the committee.

Applicants Charlie and Wesley Read, who are from Hemel Hempstead agreed to conditions to limit the impact on neighbours, including not playing music outside the venue, a ban on using disposable items outside and a requirement for over-18s only on Friday and Saturday evenings.

The sub-committee was also satisfied that an external company was responsible for managing issues relating to rubbish and littering around the Riverside shopping centre.

Their decision continued: “As for potential noise disturbance to local residents, the Sub-Committee notes that this is speculative and that the objector is speaking purely from his own experiences and more importantly, it relates to a different location.

“The Sub-Committee further notes that there were no representations from responsible authorities and neither were there any from any other interested parties.”

The Hemel Hempstead site is the chain’s first franchise site after success in London.

The Orange Buffalo started life as a food truck based in Shoreditch in 2012, before winning awards at the UK’s Chicken Wing Competition in its first year of operation.

The chain was also named Time Out’s Best Restaurant in Shoreditch and Hoxton at the 2016 Love London Awards.

The restaurant is due to open before the end of the year.

For more about The Orange Buffalo visit: www.locaji.co.uk/greater-london/london/the-orange-buffalo.