A Hampton nail salon has revealed it might be forced to shut down if it is not given permission to offer customers acrylics.

Hampton Nails and Beauty had acrylic nail extensions stripped from its licence by Richmond Council's licensing committee in June last year after complaints from a family living nearby about alleged "toxic smells" from the premises.

Hampton Nails PD Ltd later applied to the council to change the special treatment licence to offer acrylic nail extensions again at the salon on Station Road, Hampton. Neighbour Max Byng told the committee on April 4 the premises "is not suitable for the provision of these treatments but also the licence holder is not a suitable licence holder in this borough, in my opinion". 

Mr Byng said: "It's an old Victorian building and I don't think that it's adequately insulated and sealed between the premises beneath on the ground floor and the flat that I live in which means that, whenever acrylic nail treatments are conducted in the property below, I come home or my partner comes home and we walk into a kitchen or a bathroom or a sitting room that smells like we've walked into a nail bar which is a particularly unpleasant experience."

The licensing authority "continued to receive complaints about toxic fumes entering a neighbouring property" after the acrylic nail extension treatment was stripped from the licence, according to a council report. Officers inspected the salon and the premises failed a test purchase by offering to provide an acrylic nail extension, the report added.

Hai Nguyen, one of the company's directors, told the committee the salon's extractor fans are in working order. He also asked other nail companies if there are products that do not smell but could not find alternatives, he added.

He said: "The last time the council removed our licence, it caused a lot of headaches and all our staff have had to work reduced hours and then now, we're compounding this with… inflation. Without an acrylic licence, it's detrimental for the survival of the business and also the providing for the family income of all my staff here.

"We are working very hard to do the nail [treatment] here because here most of our staff [are] immigrants… the shop provides the job for three people… if you remove my licence it means that they either have no job or we have to close down the business… because without [the] licence our income [goes] down to 40per cent, down 40pc… compounded with inflation." He added that the business brings positives to Hampton and footfall to the area.

Licensing officer Ana Mirkovic said an officer who inspected the salon in January observed the ventilation system met requirements for all nail extension treatments. She said Mr Nguyen had carried out improvements to address concerns raised by the committee last June and closed holes in the ceiling.

Mr Nguyen said most of the products used by the salon are SNS dipping powder but on one occasion a staff member used acrylics to fix a customer's nail. He said the salon opens its front and back doors in summer.

He added there are many shops with people living above. He said: "It's important that we have our licence back and provide for our families."

Richmond Council's decision on the application is set to be published next week.