The owners of an African bar used by a council in its bid to win City of Culture status fear they may lose their business after "unfair" noise complaints.

Lounge 44 in Chatham High Street risks having its licence reviewed after grievances were registered by a neighbour.

But its owners say they have done everything to try and satisfy Medway Council, and are now at a loss for what more they can do.

The Nigerian eatery – which claims to be the county's only late-night African bar and restaurant – was opened by Kingsley Atuanya in October 2020 and is permitted to stay open until 2am on Fridays and Saturdays.

Mr Atuanya, who lives in Gillingham, got a letter from the council's environmental protection team at the end of last month informing him it was seeking a review of his licence on the grounds of prevention of public nuisance.

The council had previously served him with two noise abatement notices, but still allowed him an extension of his licence.

The authority asked him to install a noise monitoring device, sound-proofing to the basement, and get an external contractor to carry out a noise assessment, all of which he has done.

It also requested he employ two doormen.

Every Friday, the restaurant has an event with a DJ in its basement which has a dance floor. On other days, staff play music through speakers for those eating in the ground-floor restaurant.

The eatery – which was fully refurbished last summer – also features a covered beer garden which is made use of in the warmer months.

Mr Atuanya and his wife Catherine Aneto featured in artwork which was produced as part of the council's unsuccessful City of Culture 2025 bid.

Mrs Aneto says the noise complaints have all come from a single neighbour, and believes they are unreasonable because they are living in a high street and therefore should expect some disruption at night.

She says the council's noise abatement notices came as a result of customers staying later than advertised, which is why her husband successfully applied for an extended licence.

She explained: "They used this business to say 'look, this is a cultural borough'.

"I just feel like we were used in the City of Culture 2025 bid and made to look like we are culturally diverse, but really we are being threatened and harassed by the council on a continuous basis.

"I just think the council are coming down on us so heavily from all these noise complaints, and it's from one person.

"We feel that we are being unfairly treated because you can't shut down a business because of one neighbour's complaints.

"We feel like the council are taking sides with the neighbour because they put in the time and effort to continuously call up on a Friday and Saturday night saying they can't sleep.

Mrs Aneto says Mexican tapas and live music venue Poco Loco – which is a few doors down – isn't subject to the same restrictions. For example, it doesn't have to have two doormen, despite having more customers.

She also said her husband's business was vandalised with graffiti spelling out the word "AIDS" in December last year and despite having CCTV of the incident and reporting it to the police, no action was taken.

She added: "My husband is quite depressed at the moment because he doesn't feel like it's a viable business.

"This is the first time he's set up a restaurant and he's probably invested about £60,000.

"He really has tried to keep up with all their requests. He feels like his licence is going to be revoked.

"This is his livelihood; he doesn't have any other job, he doesn't have any other business.

"He's put all of his savings into it and he's just broken and really down about it."

Medway Council said enforcement action is always taken as a last resort and it provides advice to businesses.

A spokesman said: "We take all noise complaints seriously and take appropriate action when needed.”