A bar which police called for to be closed over late-night violence can continue trading after its opening hours were cut following a review.

Loco Lounge in Station Road, Chingford, has survived a bid to shut it down over disorder and claims management withheld CCTV footage of a fight.

A heated licensing committee sub-committee meeting on Thursday saw lawyers representing the bar and police clash over the future of the bar.

Members today have announced opening times will be cut from 2am to 12.30am, with no alcohol sold or music played after midnight.  

As part of the conditions, licensee Natalie Keefe and designated premise supervisor (DPS), Kerry O’Reilly, must continue using Clubscan, an ID card scanning system recently installed at the venue.

The technology highlighting potential trouble-makers barred from other venues was only used at weekends, but must now be operational at all times.

Any Clubscan data requested by police must be handed over within 24 hours of a request.

Loco Lounge, which opened in October 2012, has said it will appeal the sub-committee’s decision.

During the appeal process, the bar can continue trading until 2am at weekends. 

The sub-committee reached its decision after reports of disturbances within the vicinity of th bar after midnight.

Police said they had “no faith in the management’s ability to operate responsibly”  following a delay in disclosing CCTV of a mass brawl. 

David Dadds, representing Loco Lounge, told the committee the CCTV of a fight on May 31 was handed to the police within 24 hours of a data protection form being filled out by licensing officer PC Donna Wilcox on June 26 - 20 days after it was first requested by police.

He also accused police of singling out Loco Lounge after two other licensed premises nearby had a similar number of police call-outs, and said they were misusing CCTV for a “fishing expedition” of potential licence breaches.

Mr Dadds said: “Police wanted it (CCTV) to investigate crime so we released the CCTV on that basis, not so they can then misuse it at an administrative hearing.

“They’re trawling through hours of CCTV footage and looking for breaches of licence and then using it against us.”

Loco Lounge and PC Wilcox have been contacted for a comment. 

For more on this story, see this week's Guardian - out Thursday