Agenda and minutes

Councillor Alex Diner welcomed everyone to the meeting, asked members and officers to introduce themselves and outlined the procedures for the meeting.

Apologies were received from Councillor Spall.

Councillor Ngongo substituted for Councillor Spall.

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.

Councillor Robert Khan declared an interest as Bunhill ward councillor.  He stated that he not spoken to the applicant or objectors in the cases of Items B4 and B5 on the agenda and came to the Sub-Committee with an open mind.

The order of business was as the agenda.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting held on the 22 January 2015 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

The Sub-Committee noted that this item had been withdrawn.

The Sub-Committee noted that this application had been adjourned.

The applicant reported that this was a new application for a previously licensed bar/restaurant which included a smaller bar area than previously and had restaurant conditions throughout.  Discussions had been held with interested parties but objections still remained.  It was proposed to surrender the existing licence if granted.

In response to questions, the applicant agreed to limit off sales to external tables and chairs.  It was noted that the bar area would hold approximately 20 people.  There would be waitress service to the outside and tables and chairs would be put away quietly.  This was a high end sit down restaurant.  A condition was offered regarding patrolling the outside area and it was noted that music would be background only.

RESOLVED:

That the application for a new premises licence in respect of Bellanger, 9 Islington Green, N1 2XH be granted

i)       To permit the premises to sell alcohol, on and off sales, Monday to Sunday from 10:00 until midnight.

ii)      To allow the provision of late night refreshment, Sundays to Wednesdays from 23:00 until 00:30 and from Thursdays to Saturdays from 23:00 until 01:00.

Proposed opening hours: Sundays to Wednesdays from 08:00 until 00:30 and Thursdays to Saturdays from 08:00 until 01:00.

iii)  Conditions as outlined in appendix 3 as detailed on page 172 of the agenda shall be applied to the licence with the following amendments.

·      Deletion of condition number 10.

·      Additional condition.  Off sales shall be limited to the external tables and chairs.

·      Additional condition. Regular hourly staff patrols for outside area to include Collins Yard from 9pm until close.

REASONS FOR DECISION:

The Sub-Committee listened to all the evidence and submissions and read all the material. The Sub-Committee reached the decision having given consideration to the Licensing Act 2003, as amended, and its regulations, the national guidance and the Council’s Licensing Policy.

The Sub-Committee took into consideration Licensing Policy 002.  The premises fall under the Angel and Upper Street cumulative impact area.  Licensing policy 002 creates a rebuttable presumption that applications for new premises licences that are likely to add to the existing cumulative impact will normally be refused, unless an applicant can demonstrate why the operation of the premises involved will not add to the cumulative impact or otherwise impact adversely on the promotion of the licensing objectives.

The Sub-Committee noted that the current premises licence, previously held by Browns had been transferred to the applicant and further, the applicant indicated that the current premises licence would be surrendered if the application was agreed. The Sub-Committee noted that the proposed hours of operation mirror the current licence and was therefore satisfied that the premises would not contribute to the cumulative impact area. 

The Sub-Committee heard evidence about the applicant’s experience in managing licensed premises and was satisfied that the high standards required by licensing policy 10 would be met. In particular the applicant indicated that outside diners would have dedicated waiting staff and that the duty manager would be responsible for organising regular staff  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

The licensing officer reported that further submissions from the applicant had been circulated and also additional conditions tabled that had been agreed with the police.  These would be interleaved with the agenda papers.

The applicant amended condition 1 of the tabled papers to include the wording ‘or any successor’ after the licence number. 

The police reported that the police representation was withdrawn as the applicant had agreed to operate with an additional seven conditions on the licence which allayed his concerns.  This was an area with a high crime level although incidents could not be directly associated with the premises.  There were also problems related to the premises being on the borough boundary. 

The licensing authority was satisfied that the licence would not add to the cumulative impact. There were concerns that the premises should be operated by an experienced licensee so would not withdraw the representation but amended the recommendation that she was happy to support the police view.

The current license holders objected to the application.  They reported that they understood that there was nothing to preclude a shadow licence but this did not mean that an application should not be considered in the light of the licensing objectives and the licensing policy. They had concerns regarding the management and also the impact on the licensing objectives of crime and disorder and public nuisance.  The applicant was unknown and had no track record of this type of business.  Although the application only related to the basement of the premises, the nature of the business may change and it was possible that the free flow of people from upstairs to downstairs could undermine the licensing objectives.

In response to questions it was noted that the applicant had no experience in this type of business.  There was a concern that, whilst it was accepted that the licence did not relate to the whole of the premises, changes in the lease could potentially change the format of the premises. The owners of the premises were distant landlords in America to whom bills were paid and the licence holders were currently negotiating a new lease with the landlord.  It was noted that the current operator had a twenty year track record.  It was accepted that other licensees could manage the premises but it was considered that any operator would need to be experienced in licensable activities to be able to deal with the particular challenges of these premises.

The applicant’s representative stated that the application for the licence had been made by the landlord as was their right.  This did not impact on the licence currently held by the licensees but was an insurance policy for the landlord should the tenant go into liquidation or refuse to hand over the licence.  In this instance the landlord would use the shadow licence.  The new licence would not add to the cumulative impact and did not add any licensable activities but preserved the status quo.  The police and licensing authority agreed that the application  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

Following a short adjournment, the applicant’s representative applied for the withdrawal of the application.

RESOLVED that the application be withdrawn.