An Ilford pub has temporarily lost its alcohol licence after an alleged rape last month.

Police requested an urgent review of the alcohol licence for the General Havelock in High Road after a young woman alleged she was raped "at or next to" the pub in the early hours of July 23, well after 2am when the pub is meant to close.

According to a police statement submitted to Redbridge Council’s licensing sub-committee, the pub had already been warned about staying open past 2am following two alleged assaults there at around 3.30am in May.

The pub's owner Georgios Balisani told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the pub did stay open “45 minutes” past its opening hours.

However, he claimed the alleged assaults and rape were outside the pub and “nothing to do with us”.

Following the meeting on August 5, the council’s licensing sub-committee temporarily suspended the General Havelock’s licence, ahead of a full review at a future date.

When police asked for the venue’s CCTV on August 1 after the alleged rape, Mr Balisani and pub manager Zoe Nisbet claimed there was an “issue with their passwords”, according to the Met's statement.

It added that the former said the CCTV engineer was “in Portugal”.

Licensing officer PC Matt Brown wrote: “This was suspicious as investigating officers for the offence had previously been to the pub and Zoe Nisbet had accessed it then.

“No attempts were made to get someone else to rectify this and police licensing believe that this was solely an attempt to evade providing CCTV footage that would show they were operating beyond their hours.”

According to the police’s statement, the council’s CCTV showed “flashing disco lights” and door staff admitting customers “beyond 3am”.

PC Brown argued the pub’s licence should be immediately suspended because the venue poses a “serious risk to the public by repeatedly operating beyond its licensable hours”.

He added: “Police cannot trust the venue to operate lawfully and seek revocation of the premises licence.”

Mr Balisani said: “We can’t afford to pay our staff, we are so stressed.

“We employ three single mums and four security guards.”