Pub faces being shut down after 250 cannabis plants found ‘concealed by bookcase’ in The Joker, Seven Kings

The Joker pub in Seven Kings could be shut down after a cannabis farm with 250 plants was found in the cellar.

The shock discovery was made on Wednesday at 8.40am in a police raid and a Redbridge Council committee today removed the premises licence after an urgent review.

Around 250 cannabis plants were hidden in a secret underground room fitted with a sophisticated light and irrigation system, a police report presented to the committee revealed.

Police officers saw nothing at first in the normal-seeming beer cellar but found a metal door concealed by a bookcase, it added.

Behind the door was a 3ft wide hole leading to the farm.

The pub in Cameron Road, which was already facing demolition for a 19-apartment housing development with two retail units, could be forced to shut down.

Representations can be made to keep the licence but police applied for its removal because the objectives of preventing crime and disorder had been “seriously compromised”.

A 58-year-old man has been arrested and bailed until December 16, inquiries continue.

Call Redbridge Police on 101 with information.