Agenda, decisions and minutes

To elect a Chairman for the meeting of the Sub Committee.

Nominations for a Chairman of the Licensing Sub-Committee were sought and it was

Resolved:

To elect Councillor Trevor Carbin as Chairman for this meeting only.

To receive any apologies for absence and to note any substitutions.

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

To consider and determine an application for a variation of a Premises Licence in respect of The Bank Cocktail Lounge & Events, 18 High Street, Amesbury, Wiltshire, SP4 7DN made by Keystone Entertainment Limited.

Application by Keystone Entertainment for Variation to a Premises Licence at The Bank, 18 High Street, Amesbury.

The Licensing Officer Hannah Hould introduced the purpose and scope of the Application, the premises to which it related and the key issues for consideration.

The details of the variation as set out in the Officer report attached to the agenda were read out.

Nine representations had been received as detailed on p61 of the report.

In accordance with the procedure detailed in the agenda, the Applicant, the Responsible Authorities and those who had made a Relevant Representation were given the opportunity to address the Sub Committee.

Key points raised by Nathan Muirhead of Keystone Entertainment Limited (the Applicant) were:

·         The Application could be considered a little controversial by some, however we have taken steps to promote the licensing objectives.

·         Originally, we had applied for a variation to extend our opening hours to 03.30 and to include Christmas, Eve, Christmas and New Year’s Eve. After consideration that did not seem appropriate so we amended our application.

·         The Town Council believe local residents are kept awake until early hours, windows smashed and people urinate on the streets, we feel that this is simply not the case, and if this is happening the it is not coming from our venue.

·         We have Pubwatch in operation and have increased our door supervision. We are also the only venue in town that has an ID scanner, which is an excellent piece of equipment.

·         The proposed extension to the condition around music, is for when we open on bank holidays and special events.

·         As a gesture we have proposed a reduction in our start time from 8am to 12 noon.

·         There is currently a Planning condition on noise levels.

·         We have been working with Environmental Health to set a reasonable noise level on our first floor.

·         Environmental Health had visited on 2 occasions, and failed to take a suitable reading. We have agreed for them to visit again in next few weeks and assess our sound system and put the necessary limits in place.

·         They have not given us a specific limit for us to work with – and so we have made our own assessment.

·         We have exceeded our Planning Permission by 2 decibels but considering we have not been given a limit by Environmental Health, we feel that this is not bad.

·         We have 5 door supervisors and a taxi liaison officer to aid dispersal.

·         There are many people leaving our venue and neighbouring venues at a similar time. We had 5000 visitors this weekend.

·         There are not scores of people complaining, just a small group of residents – no evidence or reliable source.

·         We will continue to work with the Town Council and Environmental Health and Pubwatch.

·         This variation will allow us to play music for an additional 12 hours. All other venues have this on their licence.

·         We do have empathy for local residents, and work hard to monitor the situation.

Mr Steve  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.