Agenda item

The licensing officer stated that the opening hours had been amended from 07:00 to 23:00 and not 24 hours as stated in the application.

Further information regarding an additional police condition was circulated and would be interleaved with the agenda papers.

The Chair expressed concern that planning permission had not yet been determined as there was an expectation in the Council’s licensing policy for this to be granted prior to a licensing application being made.  The applicant stated that licensing and planning were two separate regimes and a policy statement would not override the Licensing Act.

During a short adjournment for members to consider how to proceed in this matter the applicant produced a grant of planning permission which he considered to include this premises.  The Sub-Committee therefore agreed to proceed with the hearing.

The police reported that, although this premises was not in the cumulative impact zone, it fell with the Emirates Stadium Footprint which was very busy on event days.  The event days were often more significant than the night-time economy.  Local venues had been written to and agreements reached regarding conditions for event days. The goodwill of venues was required. The police had proposed a condition for event days which the applicant had not agreed.  The police stated that they had agreed similarly worded conditions with other premises and considered that it was imperative that new licences were conditioned.

The applicant stated that on the police proposed condition dated 29 October 2015 they had not stated that the premises could not sell alcohol. 

The licensing authority was concerned about the application and agreed that the police condition should be imposed.  It was also stressed that this area was known for street drinkers, had several hostels in the area and asked that there be a 10:00 am start to alcohol sales rather than 8am.

The applicant stated that hours requested for alcohol sales were 8am to 11pm and that the premises were not in a cumulative impact area.  He stated that there were only two premises in the area that were subject to event conditions on their licence.  One of these was following a review of the licence when an additional 25 conditions were imposed. He considered that any condition regarding event days should be agreed through goodwill and not imposed on the licence.  The proposed condition went further than the conditions on all of the other off licence conditions in the area.  If this condition was imposed the premises would not be able to sell alcohol for 9 hours. This condition was considered disproportionate.  The applicant stated that Sainsbury’s would comply with any letter request from the licensing team.  Sainsbury’s already complied with police requests in other stores. They had not seen evidence that off licences created problems. Regarding the proposed 10:00 am start, the Sub-Committee was informed that the majority of off-licences in the area had licensing hours of 8am-11pm with a couple of 24 hour premises.  Conditions had been agreed regarding the sale of single cans and high strength alcohol to respond to the problems of street drinking.  An opening time of 8am would not make any difference to this issue. Of the four representations, two residents agreed with the hours of 7am to 11pm and the two remaining were concerns about the premises opening for 24 hours.

With reference to problems with serving alcohol in 2014 at the Stroud Green Road branch on a concert day following the receipt of a letter from the licensing team, the applicant stated that the branch had not received a letter from the licensing team and this had been accepted at licensing panel.  The queues of people were the main issue and panel accepted that the store had not done anything wrong.  Regarding CCTV issues at the Blackstock Road store, the Sub-Committee were informed that the manager had not been aware of any difficulties obtaining CCTV in the last 12 months.  If there was an issue this should be reported to the Area Manager.  The applicant would not expect management to be brought into question.  This new licence would be the only one subject to this police condition.  The applicant was happy to work with the police but this condition was disproportionately punishing the store.

In response to questions the applicant stated that he tried to reach agreement with the police but had not managed to do so.  The response from the police had been a complete ban on alcohol on concert and match days.  The conditions from the police had kept changing and they had not risk assessed the situation.  They would prefer to work in partnership with the police and would abide by voluntary restrictions.  The applicant was not sure of their pricing at these premises but there would be a similar pricing structure to the store in Holloway Road.

In summary, the police stated that their conditions had been chopped and changed and the final proposed condition was all encompassing in an effort to simplify the process.

The licensing authority stated that a letter regarding the sale of alcohol at Stroud Green Road had been delivered by hand.  The applicant stated that this should be emailed.

In summary, the applicant stated that the vast majority of premises selling high strength alcohol were open from 8am or earlier.  There was no evidence to support a restriction for a later time for the sale of alcohol and the store was not in a cumulative impact area. He asked that there be trust between police and licensee, as for all the other 55 off licences nearby, rather than add a condition to this licence.  There was a review procedure if Sainsbury’s broke this trust.

RESOLVED

1)       That the application for a new premises licence in respect of Sainsbury’s, 211 Blackstock Road, London, N5 2LL be granted:-

a)           To permit the premises to sell alcohol off supplies, Monday to Sunday from 10:00 until 23:00.

b)           To permit the opening hours, Monday to Sunday from 07:00 until 23:00.

2)               Conditions as detailed on pages 61 and 62 of the agenda shall be applied to the licence with the deletion of condition 20.

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 1 and 2.

There had been objections from the licensing authority and the police.  There were four resident objections. 

The Sub-Committee noted that the submission from the Licensing Authority and that although the premises were not in a Cumulative Impact Area it was very close to the Finsbury Park cumulative impact area and the Emirates Stadium with a very busy footfall on match days.  The area was also home to a hostel for the homeless and a wet centre and outreach centre for street drinkers.

The police submitted that the imposition of a ban on street drinking in 2009 had worked well for pubs, bars and restaurants, but not for off licences. Since 2013, the police licensing team had ensured that all new licences for off sales were conditioned accordingly within the Emirates Stadium footprint in terms of the risk assessment. The police considered it to be imperative to impose a condition to restrict the sale of alcohol before and after matches and events held at the Emirates stadium, rather than rely on the goodwill of businesses. The police cited two incidents that had occurred in other Sainsbury’s stores in the borough which in their view reflected poor standards of management and reinforced their recommendation for a condition to be imposed rather than a promise of goodwill.

The Sub-Committee took into account licensing policy 4 regarding shops selling alcohol and the restriction of licensing hours and also licensing polices 7 and 8 regarding licensing hours.  The Sub-Committee considered the home office guidance, specifically paragraph 9.12, which states that the police should be the licensing authority’s main source of advice on matters relating to the promotion of the crime and disorder licensing objective.

The Sub-Committee considered that the imposition of the additional condition and the restriction to licensing hours was reasonable and proportionate and would promote the licensing objectives of the prevention of crime and disorder and public nuisance.