Agenda and minutes

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

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Matt Nathan.

Councillor Gill substituted for Councillor Nathan.

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§  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.

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This applies to all members present at the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

The order of business would be as the agenda.

Discussion of this item was held in private session.

RESOLVED

1)  The Sub-Committee have decided to modify the premises licence in respect of The Royal Oak, 250 St John’s Way, N19 5RD as follows:-

a)  To reduce the hours for sale of retail of alcohol to 10am to 11pm on Sunday to Thursday and 10am to 12.30 am on Friday and Saturday.  

b)  To remove off sales provision from the licence.

c)   To remove the DPS from the premises licence.

d)  To add or amend the further conditions to the licence as detailed in the tabled paper from the applicant’s legal representative.

2) The Sub-Committee have further decided that the interim steps remain in place until all conditions are met in full or for 21 days, whichever is the earlier.

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 heard evidence that the licensee had been in dialogue with the police following the incident and the suspension had provided an opportunity for the police to work with the licensee.  The police had proposed conditions to the licensee which had been accepted.

The Sub-Committee noted that the incident involved was very serious and the licensee acknowledged this.  The Sub-Committee noted that the licensee had extensive experience in the licence trade and that he recognised that he couldn’t remain as DPS because it was necessary for there to be rigorous control and supervision over the premises.

The Sub-Committee noted that the licensee had taken action to ensure that all the proposed conditions would be met. In particular, a future DPS had been identified with 20 years’ experience and a CCTV engineer was due to attend at the premises to install a new recorder.

The licensee submitted that the premises provided a community pub and one of the main features was the regular darts matches held on Fridays and Saturdays until 12.30am. The licensee agreed to framework hours from Sunday to Thursday but submitted that if the pub didn’t have extended hours on Fridays and Saturdays, it would struggle and the darts teams would be likely to go elsewhere.

In making their decision, the Sub-Committee noted the views of the responsible authorities in particular, the police who are responsible for crime and disorder. The Sub-Committee considered that it was reasonable and proportionate to modify the conditions to the licence and to impose framework hours with the exception on Fridays and Saturdays to allow a terminal hour of 12.30am. The Sub-Committee were not persuaded to agree a terminal hour of 1am but were satisfied that the interests of the licensee and the promotion of the licensing objectives would be met with the agreed hours.

RESOLVED:

That the press and public be excluded during consideration of the following items as the presence of members of the public and press would result in the disclosure of exempt information within the terms of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, for the reasons indicated:

Agenda item   - Item B1

Title – The Royal Oak, 250 St Johns Way, N19                                           

Reason for exemption -  Category 7 – Information relating to any action taken or to be taken in connection with the prevention, investigation or prosecution of crime.