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Agenda and minutes

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

Contact: Jackie Tunstall  020 7527 3068

Items
No. Item

8.

Introductions and procedure

Minutes:

Councillor Andrews welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked members and officers to introduce themselves.  He outlined the procedures for the meeting.

9.

Apologies for absence

Minutes:

None.

10.

Declarations of substitute members

Minutes:

Councillor Raphael Andrews substituted for Councillor Gary Poole for Item B1 – People’s Social Club.

11.

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:

None.

12.

Order of Business

Minutes:

The order of business would be as the agenda.

13.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 185 KB

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on the 25 February 2014 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

14.

People's Social Club, 113 Holloway Road, N7 8LT - Review of premises licence pdf icon PDF 19 MB

Minutes:

In response to a question from the licensee’s representative, the Chair confirmed that he had received and read all the papers as he was aware that he would be substituting for Councillor Poole at an early stage.

 

The licensing officer reported that the police had some CCTV footage. The police representative stated that the police wanted the Sub-Committee to see the footage, but that it would need to be seen in closed session as it related to an incident that was the subject of current criminal proceedings. The licensee’s representative agreed that the CCTV footage should not be in the public domain and objected to it being viewed at all as the footage showed a one off incident which would be seen out of context. He therefore objected to the showing of the footage.

 

The Sub-Committee considered that they would be able to consider the one off incident in context and agreed to hold an adjournment to see the CCTV footage in closed session with the police representative and the licensee and the licensee’s representative present.  Following this adjournment, the Sub-Committee agreed to a further adjournment in closed session to allow the licensee and his representative to put forward their version of events shown in the footage.

 

The Sub-Committee noted the witness statement from the licensee’s representative following agenda despatch which would be interleaved with the agenda papers.

 

The police representative, Rory Clark, spoke in favour of the review.  He reported that his evidence would be focused on crime and disorder. He referred the Sub-Committee to page 149 of the agenda.  He reported that the Sub-Committee had seen a head-butting incident on the CCTV footage that was subject to criminal proceedings.  He considered that it was not appropriate for members of the public to be assaulted whatever the provocation.  The problems at the premises required a higher standard of management.  A sexual assault in the venue had not been recorded or reported to the police. There had been a further head-butting incident. This indicated that there had been two head-butting incidents in twelve months and it was possible from the description that this was the licensee. The premises had been reviewed previously and conditions added.  Management should have improved. At a visit on the 4 May, detailed at page 160 of the papers, it was noted that there were only two registered door staff present and not five as conditioned in the licence.  Mr Clark also drew members’ attention to a further incident detailed at page 167 of the agenda.  He reported that the statement that had been circulated from Dadds had been the view of one person, over one evening, following the submission of the review.  He asked that at the very least, hours be reduced to core hours outlined in the policy.

 

The noise officer reported that the disturbance to residents was acute but normally of short duration.  Customers of the premises would leave the premises talking very loudly, as they had been talking above the sound of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

15.

7 days Food and Wine, 93A Stroud Green Road, N4 3PX - Application for new premises licence pdf icon PDF 8 MB

Minutes:

The trading standards officer had no objection to the application with the proposed conditions attached.  He stated that he would commend the applicants and they had followed advice given. The applicants had agreed the wording of the condition regarding underage sales.

 

The police stated he agreed with the recommendation from the trading standards officer.  He considered that the applicants had taken on a difficult venue but had followed advice and despite their inexperience were keen to be successful.

 

The applicant reported that they had followed advice from the Police.  They had opened a few months previously without an alcohol licence and had come to know their customer base but needed a premises licence in order to sell alcohol.

 

In response from questions they stated that they would have the licence from 10am if it was considered necessary but as there was a local Tesco nearby they would prefer to trade from 8am.

 

RESOLVED

a) That the application for a new premises licence in respect of 7 days Food and Wine, 93a Stroud Green Road, N4 be granted:-

 

i)      To supply alcohol for consumption off the premises from 08:00 to 23:00 on Monday to Sunday.

ii)     To agree the opening hours of the premises from 07:00 to 02:00 Mondays to Sundays.

 

b)  Conditions as outlined in appendix 3 as detailed on pages 194/5 of the agenda shall be applied to the licence.

 

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 noted that trading standards had no objections to the grant of a licence with conditions proposed.  Trading standards commended the approach of the applicant and commented that the applicant had sought and followed advice from the responsible authorities.

 

The Sub-Committee heard evidence from the police that a meeting with the applicants had been both positive and negative in that the applicants had been keen to take advice but were inexperienced and showed some naivety in taking on a difficult venue.

 

The Sub-Committee heard from the applicant that they tried other ways of getting trade without a licence and got to know their customer base but they needed the alcohol licence. The applicant reiterated a willingness to take advice. In response to a question the applicant stated that they would consider a 10am start time but that as there was a Tesco nearby, with an earlier start time, they would prefer to trade from 8am.

 

The Sub-Committee took into consideration Licensing Policy 9 and 10 regarding high standards of management and policies 7 and 8 in relation to hours and policy 4 in relation to shops selling alcohol.

 

The Sub-Committee was satisfied that with the proposed conditions the grant of the licence would promote the licensing objectives. 

16.

A and B Food and Wine, 72 Aubert Park, N5 1TS - Review of premises licence pdf icon PDF 2 MB

Minutes:

The Sub-Committee noted the additional documents that were circulated separately from the agenda.  These would be interleaved with the agenda papers.

 

The trading standards officer summarised the events that had led to the review.  In November 2012 and December 2013 there were failed underage test purchases.  An officer panel had been held in December 2012 following the first test purchase and this was followed by the further underage sale in December 2013.  It was noted at this time that no training records were being kept.  There had been a lack of engagement by the licensee. He did not attend the officer panel and there had been no response to a letter sent to the licensee in December asking him to provide evidence of improved management.  The licensee had stated that he had not received the letter. However, he had made no contact with trading standards since the review application in March 2014.

 

In response to questions from the Sub-Committee, the trading standards officer reported that no explanation had been given as to why the licensee failed to attend the officer panel and the licensee had made no contact with trading standards despite a series of correspondence.

 

The police officer stated that they were in full support of the review.   He stated that they had failed to inform customers of the DPPO. He asked the Sub-Committee to place the additional conditions listed in the police representation on the licence if revocation was not agreed.

 

The licensing authority also asked that if the decision of the Sub-Committee was not revocation, they impose a condition on the licence regarding the sale of alcohol on match days.

 

Archie Madden, counsel for the licensee, informed the Sub-Committee that there was no excuse for the failed test purchases which were a breach of the licensing objectives.  He stated that this would normally not trigger a review but for other concerns that trading officers had. Conditions that had been proposed by the responsible authorities were fully accepted.  He accepted that there had been a failure to engage. The licensee understood that the premises were located in a sensitive area. The designated premises supervisor was very experienced and worked at the premises for five to six hours a day and ran his own business out of the area in the evening.  The problems had arisen when more junior members of staff had been on duty.  He informed the Sub-Committee that staff would attend training as proposed by trading standards and in addition a new member of staff would be employed for when the designated premises supervisor was not in the shop. 

He reported that a review should identify problems in order that they can be solved.  If junior members of staff were properly supervised this would have solved the underage sale problems.  The licensee had attended the offices for the officer panel but misunderstood that he needed to attend the meeting. He reported that the licensee had been ill which had hindered his ability to concentrate.  The licensee  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

17.

Exempt minutes - 22 July 2014