Pub faces being shut down after 250 cannabis plants found ‘concealed by bookcase’ in The Joker, Seven Kings
The Joker pub - Credit: Archant
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.
You may also want to watch:
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”.
Most Read
- 1 First residents move in to new council homes in Hainault
- 2 Ilford murder investigation launched after woman dies of injuries
- 3 Ilford Town only place in London with average house price below £250,000
- 4 Ex-police officer among group jailed for £850k intercept from rival gangs
- 5 More than a thousand attend Eid in the Field in Woodford Green
- 6 Teen 'robbed at knifepoint' in Chadwell Heath
- 7 Chigwell rabbi hospitalised after 'unprovoked and cowardly attack'
- 8 Wes Streeting MP reveals cancer diagnosis
- 9 Sam Tarry MP: 'My focus is on job creation in Ilford'
- 10 West Ham Women bow out of FA Cup at Manchester City
A 58-year-old man has been arrested and bailed until December 16, inquiries continue.
Call Redbridge Police on 101 with information.
