Dominoes cannot be played quietly, as any child of Caribbean origin knows

West Indian men gathering to play dominoes in north London have become the centre of a noise complaints row

• West Indian dominoes players dismayed by noise ban in London square

It's as West Indian as rice and peas and the barber shop: the slamming down of dominoes - hard - on a table as a group of elderly black men go head to head in a heated game.

If you are West Indian you just can't play dominoes without making a bit of noise," says Ernest Theophile, 73, who has been playing dominoes, cards and backgammon with his friends in Maida Hill market square in north London for 12 years. He was served with an injunction banning games in the square after Westminster council received 200 noise complaints.