Agenda item

The Licensing Officer referred to the second bullet point on page 61 of the agenda and circulated to Members of the Sub-Committee a copy of the plan indicating by hatching the area of the premises where alcohol would be supplied and consumed prior to a meal in the bar area, by up to a maximum of twelve people at any one time.

The Sub-Committee noted that there had been no representations from the Licensing Authority or the Police, although the premises was situated within the Bunhill Cumulative Impact Zone.

The Applicant’s agent outlined the application, which was for the offer of alcohol alongside food on Mondays to Saturdays. All of the responsible authorities were satisfied that the granting of a new premises licence would not impact adversely on the area. Although the original application had sought agreement to the supply of alcohol up until 23:00, this had been reduced to 22:30 in response to representations from the Council’s Noise Team and local residents, as detailed in the “Statement for Other Parties” which had been circulated to members of the Sub-Committee. In addition, the applicant had agreed to an additional condition that “There shall be no collections of refuse or deliveries between the hours of 22:00 to 08:00” to reduce the noise impact on residents. He suggested that most of the representations referred to a noisy and boisterous establishment, which this was not.  The applicant proposed to run a high quality wining and dining experience, along the lines of an Italian “cicchetti” restaurant. The applicant was a qualified sommelier who ran a successful establishment nearby, for which he had an alcohol licence and had experienced no problems.

In response to a question from a member about the management of potential queues outside the restaurant, the applicant’s representative explained that a limit of 50 people would be allowed in the pre-dining area. The applicant himself added that the restaurant’s kitchen was small. The manager would plan in advance and would know if it were possible to accommodate all their clients, most of whom would have booked in advance and this would prevent queues building up outside the premises.

RESOLVED:

1. That the application for a new premises licence in respect of72 St John Street, London EC1M 4DT be granted to allow:

i)the supply alcohol for consumption on the premises from 12:00 until 22:30 on Monday to Saturday

ii) the premises to be open to the public from 12:00 until 23:00 on Monday to Saturday

2.The conditions outlined in appendix 3 and detailed on page 74 of the agenda to 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 took into consideration Licensing Policy 2.  The premises fell under the Bunhill cumulative impact area.  Licensing policy 2 created a rebuttable presumption that applications for new premises licences that were likely to add to the existing cumulative impact would normally be refused, unless an applicant could demonstrate why the operation of the premises involved would not add to the cumulative impact, or otherwise impact adversely on the promotion of the licensing objectives.

The Sub-Committee noted that no representations had been received from the Local Authority or the Police to this application and that none of the local residents who had objected to the application were present at the meeting, although their written representations had been taken into account, together with the applicant’s response to those representations. In response to the representations received from residents, the applicant had reduced the hours for the sale of alcohol to 22:30 from the original application for 23:00 hours.

The applicant’s representative stated that this was a small premises with a capacity of 50 persons who would operate only during the hours specified within Licensing Policy 8. He therefore asked the Sub-Committee to consider this application as exceptional to the policy. The premises was primarily a quality wining and dining experience for its customers and the applicant was a qualified sommelier who wished to sell quality wines to discerning customers. In response to a question, the applicant had said that he was confident that there would be no problems caused by customers queuing up outside the premises since most tables were pre-booked and the manager of the premises would know in advance of numbers expected.

The Sub-Committee concluded that, although the premises fell under the Bunhill cumulative impact area, the granting of the licence would not add to the cumulative impact of the area and the licensing objectives would be promoted.