STATUTORY LICENSING SUB-COMMITTEE
Minutes of a meeting held on 13th March, 2017.
Present: Councillors A.G. Powell, J.W. Thomas and C.J. Williams.
Also present: Licensing Officers (Vale of Glamorgan Council), Environmental Health Officer (Vale of Glamorgan Council) and South Wales Police.
The Scrutiny Support Officer explained as to the procedure to be used for the hearing and advised that copies were included within the agenda.
(a) Appointment of Chairman -
Councillor J.W. Thomas was elected Chairman for the duration of the hearing.
(b) Declarations of Interest -
No declarations were received.
(c) Licensing Act 2003 - Application for Grant of Premises Licence - 150 Holton Road, Barry, CF63 4HL -
Also present - Mr. D. Shepherd (Applicant’s Representative), Mr. T. Howard (Applicant), Mr. K. Bulley (Applicant) and Mr. E. Howard (Applicant).
The Chairman welcomed those present to the Sub-Committee hearing and invited each person to introduce themselves. He asked if all parties had made written representations to which all advised that they had.
In presenting the report, the Licensing Officer advised that the Licensing Act 2003 centred around four licensing objectives. The objectives were:
- The prevention of crime and disorder
- Public safety
- The prevention of public nuisance
- The protection of children from harm.
The officer also advised that the application was submitted on 16th January, 2017 and attached at Appendix A of the report.
The application sought authorisation for live music (indoors), recorded music (indoors), late night refreshment (indoors) and sale of alcohol (on sales).
The application had been advertised as per the Licensing Act 2003 (Premises and Club Premises Certificates) Regulations 2005 whereby a Responsible Authority or any other person may make relevant representations at any time during the 28 day consultation period. The Licensing Authority had received three relevant representations during the consultation period.
The officer apprised the Committee of the two representations received from Responsible Authorities, namely Environmental Health and South Wales Police. These representations were attached at Appendix B to the report with a further representation received from Councillor Pamela Drake, in her role as Ward Member for Castleland, where the premise was situated. The Councillor’s representation was attached at Appendix C of the report.
The matter had been referred to the Sub-Committee for determination as the relevant representations had not been mediated. The Licensing Authority had not received any requests to amend the application from the Applicant to date.
The Chairman invited the Applicants to present their representations in support of their application.
Mr. Shepherd, representative for the Applicants, advised the Committee that the business model for Café 1 was as a café during the day and a restaurant in the evening. The application for the sale of alcohol was to compliment pre-booked evening events. Mr. Bulley further advised that alcoholic drinks would be served in partnership with the restaurant meals on sale and was not required for stand-alone drinking. The pre-booked events were essential to progress the business.
The Applicants further advised that they wished to amend the operating hours for the licensable activities, within the original application, to the following:
Provision of live music
Monday to Sunday 18:00 - 23:30 hours
Provision of recorded music
Monday to Sunday 18:00 - 23:30 hours
Late night refreshments
Monday to Sunday 23:00 hours - 00:30 hours
Sale of alcohol
Monday to Sunday 07:00 hours - 00:30 hours.
It was not the Applicants’ intention to have security staff at the premises as the business activities would not require this. During daytime hours, the premises would operate as a café open to the general public. During evening hours, the premises would operate as a restaurant for private, pre-booked events and therefore not open to the general public. The premises would be closed in the evening if there was no pre-booked event scheduled.
The Chairman asked whether there were any questions from Other Parties for the Applicants.
P.C. Young, South Wales Police, asked a point of clarification in regards to CCTV coverage around the premises. The Officer wished to confirm how the smoking area outside of the premises would be supervised by staff and advised that any smoking area needed to be cornered off to ensure public safety. He had concerns that the current CCTV may not cover a wide enough area to monitor persons gathering outside of the premises, especially if they were visiting as part of a large private function.
Mr. Shepherd advised that the Applicants were concerned about having a designated smoking area outside of the premises as this would give the impression that the business was operating as a drinking club which was not the nature of the business. The Applicants advised the Committee that CCTV had been installed throughout the premises and also to cover the front and back of the property. In response to the Police Officer’s query about distance coverage, the Applicants advised that the cameras did not cover a wider pavement area, at the front of the building, but would be willing to consider installation on the Officer’s advice.
P.C. Young also addressed his concern over the safety of the narrow access stairwell for working staff and possible customers queuing to enter the premises. There were no methods of stopping unwanted customers coming into the premises with the type of access / exit which would also prove difficult for Police Officers responding / attending the scene.
The Applicants’ representative acknowledged that the venue was only accessible via the stairwell to the first storey and this was unavoidable due to the nature of the building. He advised that the Applicants had already installed CCTV and extra handrails to the area in consideration of this. The venue staff would deal with any passing trade entering the premises however; this was not expected to be common due to the business operating as a pre-booked restaurant.
The Police Officer asked the Applicants to clarify the serving of alcohol, in that, if there was not a late night event then alcohol would not be on sale.
Mr. Shepherd confirmed that the Applicants had applied for the wide operating hours, requested at the hearing, for all seven days a week to allow for flexibility to host evening events. A late night alcohol sale licence, if granted, would not be utilised if there was no event taking place. The Applicants would not encourage customers coming to the premises from other late night venues and the operating capacity was for 42 people only.
The Environmental Health Officer asked the Applicants to confirm the maximum number of individuals permitted in the venue as per the Fire Regulations Inspection. Mr. Bulley advised it was 120; however, this was not the reality of customer numbers on an operating basis.
The officer also highlighted that there had been no mention of a change to the non-standard timings within the application and asked if the Applicants could confirm their intentions. Mr. Shepherd advised that the Applicants wished to remove all non-standard timing requests from the application.
A Panel Member clarified, with the Applicants that the business model was for a restaurant with live entertainment in the evenings. The Applicants confirmed that that was correct, however, it was important to add that the live entertainment was small acts appropriate to a restaurant setting, for example acoustic duets.
With no further questions, the Chairman invited the South Wales Police Officer to present his representations.
P.C. Young advised the Committee of his main concerns following the initial application made and appreciated that the Applicants had suggested changes to operating timings at the hearing. The Officer had already addressed some of the concerns within his questioning of the Applicants. His main concern was the hours the premises was open to the public with a closing time of 01:30 hours that would generate an additional late night drinking venue for members of the public to walk in off the street without a door man or venue security. There was also no SIA door staff suggested within the operating schedule, that the Police would normally recommend two SIA licenced individuals from 21:00 hours when a venue was open past 00:00 hours. Another concern was bottles being taken out of the venue and also children on the premises after 20:00 hours.
The Applicants reiterated that the business model was for a restaurant and not a club. The Applicants were willing to complete SIA training; however, this implied the premise was to be used as a club which it was not. The Applicants agreed that drinks were not to be removed from the premises.
The Chairman asked whether there were any questions from Other Parties for the South Wales Police Officer.
A Panel Member asked P.C. Young if his concerns over CCTV coverage and timings for the sale of alcohol were mediated following the Applicants’ change of timings and willingness to install wider camera coverage.
P.C. Young advised the Committee that CCTV footage was important to the Police force and the new timing of 00:30 hours for the end of alcohol sales was still too late.
With no further questions, the Chairman invited the Environmental Health Officer to present her representations.
The Environmental Health Officer expressed her concern over the ‘events only’ business model in the evenings and that it was difficult to define, limit and condition an ‘event’ for the Local Authority to police. The application needed to be assessed on the operating hours and if granted, the Applicants would be entitled to fill the operating hours as they wished.
The Applicants’ Representative apprised the Committee of the current difficulties that similar businesses faced when dealing with ‘walk in’ trade. To address this, local businesses were branching out to provide individual events and advertising the event under a particular theme. The events operated as pre-booked ‘one offs’ and were not to be filled with large connected groups of people but to fill with individual bookings. This was also the intention for Cafe 1. The Applicants were very serious about the business model and aware that previous businesses, in the premises, had failed that relied on walk in trade. Mr. Bulley added to Mr. Shepherd’s point by advising that the business would cater for themed nights and private functions in the evenings.
The Environmental Health Officer advised the Committee that the premises backed onto a residential street and a closing time of 01:00 hours was not conducive to the location. Her concerns over noise from the premises had led to the conditions within her representation.
The Chairman asked whether there were any questions from Other Parties for the Environmental Health Officer.
Mr. Howard, Applicant, asked the Environmental Health Officer to clarify the number of residential properties near to the premises.
The officer confirmed that there was a residential flat next door but one to the premises and the street at the rear and parallel to the premises consisted entirely of private homes.
Mr. Bulley advised the Committee that there were several licensed premises on Holton Road that were near to residential properties and enquired of the officer how the proposed business model compared to existing ones with regards to public nuisance.
In response, the officer advised that other licenced premises on Holton Road had been subject to complaints, however, each application was dealt with independently and on its own merits.
The Chairman advised that a written representation had been received from the local Ward Member, Councillor Mrs. P. Drake, and had been considered by the Sub-Committee in the Councillor’s absence.
Following the Chairman’s invitation to sum up, the parties summarised as follows:
The Environmental Health Officer advised that she wished to stick to her original representation made. The suggested timings within the representation were still supported in consideration of the surrounding residential area. Having taken into consideration the Applicants’ comments about a smoking area, she wished to remove Condition 9 from the proposed conditions.
The South Wales Police Officer also removed the condition for a smoking area but maintained that CCTV was necessary on the stairwell and outside area to monitor persons smoking and avoid glasses being taken outside the premises. The Officer recommended a 23:30 hours end time for the sale of alcohol and for at least one of the Applicants to be SIA trained.
The Applicants had changed the operating hours applied for in an attempt to mediate the Responsible Authority’s concerns and reiterated that the business model was for a restaurant in the evening. The Applicants were willing to arrange a wider coverage of CCTV at the premises, however, did not agree with SIA training for the Applicants unless this was enforced on other similar local businesses.
Following the summing up, and there being no further questions, the Licensing Sub-Committee retired to consider the application in private. On return, the Chairman advised that the application was for the grant of a premises licence at 150 Holton Road, Barry, CF63 4HL. The application was for the sale of alcohol (on-sales), regulated entertainment (indoors) and late night refreshment (indoors). The hours requested in respect of the licensable activities were:
Provision of live music
Monday to Sunday 18:00 - 23:30 hours
Provision of recorded music
Monday to Sunday 18:00 - 23:30 hours
Late night refreshments
Monday to Sunday 23:00 hours - 00:30 hours
Sale of alcohol
Monday to Sunday 07:00 hours - 00:30 hours.
He advised that representations had been received from the Licensing Authority, Environmental Health, South Wales Police and the local Ward Member.
In delivering the decision of the Committee, the Chairman summarised the representations presented by all parties at the hearing:
Licensing Authority
The Licensing Authority had no further representations to make other than those already contained within the officer’s report.
South Wales Police Authority
Despite the reduction of operating hours requested by the Applicants, the Police Officer insisted that the hours for alcohol sales should be limited to 23:30 hours.
The Officer also recommended that at least one member of staff should be SIA trained.
CCTV should be as per his suggested condition but also to include stairs and the pavement area immediately outside the premises. If this was agreed, there was no requirement for a cordoned off smoking area.
Environmental Health
The officer advised that the surroundings were a residential area and she had concerns that the operating hours requested may cause nuisance to residents. Therefore, she recommended that the operating hours in her representation be applied.
The officer had agreed to remove Condition 9 from her representation that concerned the need for a cordoned off smoking area.
Other Persons
A written representation from Councillor Mrs. P. Drake was considered by the Committee in her absence.
Applicants / Applicants’ Representative
The Applicants advised the Committee that they intended to run the premises as a restaurant with booked parties and themed events, in the evenings, and not as a nightclub or cocktail bar. The premises would be run as a café during the day.
The Applicant had reduced the operating hours originally applied for and removed the non-standard timings request from the application.
They advised that they did not want to have SIA door staff or a cordoned off smoking area as this was not conducive to the type of business they intended to run.
The Chairman advised that following consideration of the application, the representations of the Other Persons, Local Authority, Responsible Authorities and the Applicants, and having considered the Home Office guidance, along with the Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy, and also taking into account the Licensing Act 2003, as amended, in particular the Licensing Objectives, the Licensing Sub-Committee had
RESOLVED - T H A T the application be granted, as amended by the Applicants at the hearing, to include modified conditions that are consistent with the operating schedule in a way that it considers appropriate for the promotion of the Licensing Objectives:
- The point of access off Holton Road to be covered by CCTV. This system will be capable of providing images which are of evidential standard.
- No drinks or bottles, alcoholic or non-alcoholic to be taken outside of the premises at any time. This condition will also apply to any persons wishing to exit the building to enable them to smoke.
- All refuse and bottles shall be disposed of in bins quietly so as not to disturb neighbours or local residents. There shall be no disposal of glass bottles and refuse outside the premises between 21:00 hours and 09:00 hours nor any movement of waste, equipment or materials between these hours.
- Openable windows to the premises shall be kept closed from 23:00 hours until closing. Doors shall be kept closed except when being used for access or egress from 23:00 hours until closing.
Reason for decision
The Licensing Sub-Committee was satisfied that the application was for an evening restaurant rather than a nightclub or cocktail bar and was mindful that the customer capacity of the premises was 42 which was not apparent from the original application. The Committee felt that with a high standard of management the granting of this application would not cause a nuisance to neighbouring properties and would not conflict with the prevention of crime and disorder licensing objective. The Applicants were reminded that if this was not the case the licence could be reviewed at any time.
The Applicants were advised that they had the right to appeal against the decision of the Committee. The appeal must be made in writing and within 21 days to the Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan Magistrates Court. If in any doubt as to their legal rights and / or responsibilities the Applicants should take independent legal advice.