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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 4, Town Hall, Upper Street, N1 2UD

Contact: Zoe Leiws  020 7527 3486

Items
No. Item

1.

Introductions and procedure

Minutes:

Councillor Gary Poole welcomed everyone to the meeting and officers and members introduced themselves. It was noted that the procedure for the conduct of the meeting was detailed in the agenda papers.

2.

Apologies for absence

Minutes:

None.

3.

Declarations of substitute members

Minutes:

None.

4.

Declarations of interest

If you have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest* in an item of business:

§  if it is not yet on the council’s register, you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent;

§  you may choose to declare a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest that is already in the register in the interests of openness and transparency. 

In both the above cases, you must leave the room without participating in discussion of the item.

 

If you have a personal interest in an item of business and you intend to speak or vote on the item you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent but you may participate in the discussion and vote on the item.

 

*(a)     Employment, etc - Any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain.

(b) Sponsorship - Any payment or other financial benefit in respect of your expenses in carrying out duties as a member, or of your election; including from a trade union.

(c) Contracts - Any current contract for goods, services or works, between you or your partner (or a body in which one of you has a beneficial interest) and the council.

(d) Land - Any beneficial interest in land which is within the council’s area.

(e) Licences- Any licence to occupy land in the council’s area for a month or longer.

(f) Corporate tenancies - Any tenancy between the council and a body in which you or your partner have a beneficial interest.

 (g) Securities - Any beneficial interest in securities of a body which has a place of business or land in the council’s area, if the total nominal value of the securities exceeds £25,000 or one hundredth of the total issued share capital of that body or of any one class of its issued share capital. 

 

This applies to all members present at the meeting.

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

5.

Order of Business

Minutes:

The order of business would be as the agenda.

6.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 65 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 13 March 2018 be confirmed as a correct record and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

7.

Essex Alternative Supermarket, 360 Essex Road, London, N1 3PD - New licence application pdf icon PDF 2 MB

Minutes:

The Licensing Officer requested that the applicant confirm his relationship to the previous licence holder. The applicant stated that the previous licence holder was his son.

 

The Police advised that the applicant was the owner when the previous licence was revoked. Concern was raised that he had an awareness of how his son was running the premises and that there had been breaches to the crime and disorder and public safety licensing objectives. The Police therefore had a lack of confidence in the applicant.

 

Public Health raised concerns about the relationship between the owner and the previous licence holder. There had been breaches in relation to underage sales and high strength alcohol. There were also concerns about the management of the premises. Licensing policy 29 stated that where there was a history of problems, any new application should demonstrate significant signs of improvement and this was not the case.

 

The Licensing Authority stated that at appeal the court had decided the committee decision to revoke the previous licence was fair. Six days after this, the new application had been submitted. It was suggested that this application contained fewer conditions than the previous one which had contained conditions requested by Trading Standards officers. The officer stated that on a visit, the applicant had stated he did not know the previous licence holder, when he was now saying he was his son. There was a lack of confidence that the licensing objectives would be promoted.

 

The applicant, through his daughter, who was interpreting, advised that his son had made mistakes and if the applicant was given a licence, the son would not be in the premises or have any involvement in the running of the business. The applicant would employ staff who knew about alcohol licences. He understood if the committee did not wish to grant the licence due to the way the premises had previously been managed, however if that was the case, he would prefer to be given a licence so that he could sell the business. Someone had shown interest in buying the premises, but he was waiting for the applicant to receive a licence. The applicant would prefer though to be given a licence to run the business and make improvements. 

 

The Chair asked the applicant what he understood by ‘Framework Hours’. The applicant’s daughter stated she did not understand the term so could not interpret.

 

In response to a question from the Chair as to why the hours in the application were outside those set out in policy, the applicant stated that the hours requested were the same as the previous ones.

 

The Chair asked the applicant how he would challenge those attempting to make underage purchases and whether he could do this in English. The applicant advised, in English, that he could ask for ID if customers looked under 25 years old.

 

In response to a question from the Chair about which external agency would be used to conduct test purchases at the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

Quality Chop House, 88-90 Farringdon Road, London, EC1R 3EA - Premises licence variation pdf icon PDF 388 KB

Minutes:

The licensing officer stated there had been one representation from a resident who said she was representing a Tenants and Residents’ Association (TRA). The resident provided minutes from a TRA meeting which confirmed this. She was accompanied by the TRA secretary.

 

The licensing officer stated that two lists of timings had been received. The correct ones were as follows:

 

To extend the provision of on and off sales of alcohol from 11:00 until 22:00 Monday to Friday and from 09:00 until 22:00 on Saturday and from 11:00 to 17:00 on Sunday;

 

To extend the opening hours from 09:00 until 22:00 on Monday to Saturday and from 10:00 until 17:00 on Sundays.

 

The resident explained her objection letter raised concerns about the effects on residents of cooking smells and noise issues. She had complained to staff at the premises. The TRA secretary stated that by removing Annex 2, Condition 1 and replacing it with “Consumption of alcohol on the premises shall be limited to the ground floor café area and limited to a maximum of 16 persons”, the licensee was seeking to replace the cultural activity of wine tastings, with drinking. The secretary also stated that the premises was in a Cumulative Impact Zone and raised concerns about the public health impacts that would arise from increased hours. He outlined Islington and London statistics in relation to alcohol consumption and raised concern about how expanding the hours would increase the harmful effect of alcohol consumption. He suggested that there should be no licensing past 9pm.

 

The resident proposed that if the licence variation was granted, no supply of alcohol should be made when the Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) was not present or where the DPS did not hold a personal licence.

 

The resident raised concern about bottles being put out between midnight and 2am. The licensing officer suggested that this could be from other premises which closed much later than the Quality Chophouse.

 

In response to a question from a member about the residents objections when the written and verbal objections focused on different points, the licensing officer reminded the committee that they should use the representation in front of them and not any new information presented to them.

 

The applicant explained that the Quality Chophouse business was 150 years old. There was a commitment to meeting the licensing objectives e.g. Challenge 25 was implemented, log books were kept and there was a large pool of colleagues with personal licences. The application related to the butchers/wine shop/café and not the restaurant. The applicant stated that the application had been put in following customers saying they would like the premises to serve wine in the evenings with snacks. It would not be an all night bar, alcohol would only be served with food and would not be served after 10pm. There would be 10-15 covers. Wine would cost between £4 and £10 and it was anticipated that most guests would have one or two glasses of wine  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

9.

Best Taste Caribbean Take Away, 335 Caledonian Road, London, N1 1DW - Temporary Event Notice pdf icon PDF 693 KB

Minutes:

The licensing officer advised that two additional papers had been received; one from the Cally Festival team and one from the applicant who had outlined his role in the festival.

 

The noise officer advised that the premises was just outside the roadblock for the festival. She had visited the applicant last year with an officer from the Cally Festival team and a licensing officer. They had discussed the importance of noise control. The music system had been disrupting parts of the festival because it was so loud. The licensing officer had tried to moderate the volume but this had been unsuccessful.  The noise officer was unable to put controls on the volume as there was no premises licence. The officer raised concern that there would be more disruption this year if the volume was not moderated.

 

The licensing officer stated that she and the applicant had controlled the noise level at first but then the noise level had risen throughout the festival even with ongoing dialogue.

 

Councillor Convery attended the meeting to act as a witness to the account given by the noise officer as he was there. He explained that the applicant was just outside the festival. He sold charcoal barbecued foods, soft drinks and had a sound system. There was a Caribbean flavour and his set up added to the festival atmosphere. This was the first year that a TEN application had been submitted to serve alcohol. This would mean the sound could be regulated. Councillor Convery said he wanted the Cally Festival to go well. He was happy to support the application but the volume had to be at a level which would not disrupt proceedings.

 

The applicant stated that he was looking forward to the festival. He provided diversity in his music and had families and friends attending. He stated that he would keep the volume low.

 

In response to a question from the Chair, the applicant stated that he only wanted the alcohol licence in order to sell Jamaican lager which would be poured out into cups. He said there was no link between the alcohol and noise.

 

In response to a question from the Chair, the applicant explained that he had a friend who had turned up the music but this year he would tell him this was the last chance for Best Taste and he would not be in control of the music.

 

In her summary, the noise officer said she wanted the applicant to participate but the noise had to be kept under control.

 

Councillor Convery suggested that a condition be added to check and set an appropriate noise level prior to the commencement of the event that would be retained throughout the event. The licensing officer advised that it was not possible to condition a TEN but the applicant could give an undertaking.

 

The applicant stated that he was willing to limit the noise to a level advised by the noise team and was prepared to do his utmost to maintain.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.