An upmarket pizza chain has blamed Kingston Council’s “stringent licensing constraints” after it pulled out of plans to open a restaurant in the Market House and said councillors’ stance would have made it “impossible to run a successful restaurant”.

The Stable chain’s founder Nikki Cooper said the alcohol licence granted by councillors in August made it “impossible” to run a successful restaurant.

She added that opposition from residents over the conversion of the historic building was also a factor. The Stable’s decision means Kingston Council may miss out on up to £150,000 a year in rent it had hoped to gain from re-purposing the landmark.

The Stable was granted a license to sell alcohol until 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays at a licensing committee meeting in August.

Bosses wanted to keep the bar open until midnight, but Kingston police branded the application “unacceptable”.

Even scaling back their plans by half an hour was not enough, however.

Mrs Cooper said: “After months of planning and anticipation we took the decision to withdraw our interest in the property due to both the significant amount of public concern over change of use of this historical building coupled with the stringent licensing constraints that were being imposed upon us which would make it impossible to run a successful restaurant.

“The Stable team would still very much like to open a restaurant in Kingston, a town they recognise as thriving and charming and very much hope to join the community at another location in the future.”

Andy Cooper, one of the chain’s co-founders in 2009, was forced to defend it from suggestions by Kingston Council’s environmental protection officer that his Whitechapel venue was a “cross between Pizza Express and a pub”, at the meeting on August 2.

Licensing committee members wrote in a statement setting out their decision: “[We] took account of the impact on residents adjacent to the Market Place who were already subjected to considerable noise from traders, shoppers and pedestrians from early each morning.

“The sub-committee noted concerns expressed about the possible music and alcohol led pub type nature of the operation based on observations of the applicant’s Whitechapel premises.”

But last month, councillors voted to allow a contractor rent out the Guildhall for booze-fuelled corporate events and wedding receptions.

Owners of other late-night venues questioned the proposal in light of the authority’s ‘rebuttal presumption’ of refusal for such applications in the town centre.

A petition protesting The Stable’s plans, started by current traders at the Market House, gathered more than 12,000 signatures.