Agenda and minutes

Councillor Angelo Weekes welcomed everyone to the meeting and officers and members introduced themselves.  The procedure for the conduct of the meeting was outlined.

None.

There were no declarations of substitute members.

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 Shaikh declared she was a ward councillor for Finsbury Park ward and Councillor Croft stated that he lived in Finsbury Park ward.

The order of business would be as the agenda.

RESOLVED:

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

The licensing officer reported that conditions had been agreed with the police and the licensing authority, there were no additional papers since the publication of the report and no residents were in attendance.

The applicant’s representative stated that this was a new premises licence for a shop underneath the railway arches at Finsbury Park. They requested a licence for the sale of alcohol between 8am and 11pm.  The nearest similar store was at Tottenham Hale. Asda had never been reviewed and they had over 21 million customers each week. This was a testament to their procedures, policies and training.  This would be a convenience store, they were aware of the cumulative impact and so had added a raft of conditions. The alcohol was a very small part of the business with just over 68 bays. Four of these would be given over to alcohol including low alcohol products. Alcohol was ancillary to the use as a convenience store but would be an important part of the business. The premises was to open at 7am but alcohol would be locked at this time. They would not be selling super strength beers or premium alcohol, no single cans or white ciders. They would also not be selling sherry or port as street drinkers were moving towards these as their drink of choice. There would be security with body cam. This was a store aimed at the commuter market. There would be three personal licence holders, CCTV, training in conflict management and Challenge 25 which included the use of test purchases to ensure staff challenged young people. There would be panic buttons for staff. Conditions had been agreed relating to Finsbury Park events and Emirates. This was not a standard application. There were no representations from the Police or Licensing Authority and they had not objected to these hours. A ward councillor had objected on the grounds of cumulative impact and the applicant’s representative stated that every step would be taken to ensure that there would be no impact. This was a responsible retailer application and was designed to ensure that sales were part of a normal shop.

In response to questions, it was stated that people expect to buy alcohol with their normal shopping in the morning. The tills could block the sale of alcohol until 8am and the Licensing Authority had considered that this was an appropriate start time. In response to this being a particularly high risk area the applicants representative stated that they had shops in other risk areas such as Tottenham Hale from 6am until midnight. They expected to open a number of community stores in the near future. They had looked at a number of strategic locations around transport hubs for stores and the commuter aspect was considered where customers would pick up meals on the way home from work. It was accepted that 8am was early but customers did wish to purchase alcohol with their meal at that time. They were aware that this was a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51.

The licensing officer reported that conditions had been agreed with the police and the noise team. In response to a letter from the applicant, two representors had withdrawn their representations, one representation was to remain and one resident had not replied.

A full set of conditions were tabled at the meeting.

The applicant’s representative stated that this premises had previously been licensed on the hours applied for but now had extensive conditions. There were no outstanding objections from the responsible authorities and the premises was outside the cumulative impact area. The hours proposed were consistent with framework hours. The premises would not operate as a public house but as a wine storage space and shop with wine tastings in the basement. They would be offering specialist organic natural wine and not the type of alcohol normally associated with anti-social behaviour and street drinking. The applicant had engaged with all interested parties and two had subsequently been reassured and had withdrawn the representations.

In response to questions, it was noted that there would be retail upstairs and ticketed events downstairs. Residents walking past would see a small retail offering. The wine offered was from small producers. Wine prices could range from £10 to a few hundred pounds. Wine boxes could be posted in a similar manner to the Wine Society. Delivering wine was not a primary business plan and it was stated that the Sub-Committee could impose a condition regarding non-motorised vehicles if they considered it appropriate. It was noted that the premises would be operating Challenge 25.  The premises would be used for some storage for the public house on Halliford Street.  This was a five-minute walk and items could be delivered between the two properties by trolley or bike. Events would not be of a type that would encourage raucous behaviour. There would be signage to ask patrons to leave quietly. Customers would not be permitted to smoke outside. They would look at measures to ensure that customers would not encroach the whole of the pavement area and there was a condition that ensured that the premises would not operate as a bar.

RESOLVED

1)      That the application for a new premises licence, in respect of 344a Essex Road, N1, be granted to allow:-

a)    The supply of alcohol, on and off the premises from 9am to 11pm on Monday to Sunday on the ground floor;

b)    The supply of alcohol on and off sales from 10am to 11pm Monday to Saturday and from 11am to 10pm on Sundays on the basement floor.

c)     The premises to be open to the public from 9am to 11pm Monday to Sunday.

2)      That conditions tabled at the meeting shall be applied to the licence with the following amendments:-

To add the following wording to Condition 23. A maximum of 6 smokers shall be permitted to stand outside the frontage at any one time and shall not be permitted to take alcohol outside.

Condition 27 to read. There shall be no combustion  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52.