Agenda and minutes

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

Received from Councillor Matt Nathan.

Councillor Joe Caluori substituted for Councillor Matt Nathan.

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.

None.

The order of business would be as the agenda.

The Sub-Committee noted that the application had been adjourned at the request of the applicant.

The Licensing Officer reported that there was no new information to add to the report circulated with the agenda. He noted that the applicant had agreed conditions proposed by the Responsible Authorities. There was one outstanding objection from a local resident, who had not informed the Council as to whether or not they would be attending this meeting.

The applicant stated that the objection was invalid.  There were no objections from the Council’s Noise Team and conditions had been agreed. The speakers were not in the ceiling, but on the wall.  Customers on the premises were allowed to talk.  The furniture had felt pads on the base. There was no record of any noise complaints.

He stated that the premises was identical to others on the parade. It had  been built in the early 1900s and parts of the building were made of solid concrete so noise would have to be at a very high volume to go through to the premises above. There had been a centrally fitted false ceiling which had collapsed in 2002. It has not been installed as sound proofing, but was purely for aesthetic reasons.  The speakers were not on the ceiling but had been on the walls. The objector had suggested that people downstairs in the premises could be heard speaking through concrete walls.  People on the premises were allowed to talk.  The furniture in the premises came from catering establishments and had felt on the bases. He stated that there was no proof of complaints from other neighbours. A noise test had had to be abandoned due to the excess noise on Holloway Road. He had never had to call the Police to attend the premises and this was despite the fact that it was visited by Arsenal supporters. He had never encountered problems at these premises. He had held a licence for the premises at 351 Holloway Road, where he ran a coffee bar, and had never had to call the Police to those premises either.

He said that he was happy with the conditions and had offered to soundproof the area around the speakers.  Due to the current conditions around Covid19, he feared that it could be the end of the restaurant after 40 years of operation.  He maintained that the complaint about noise was unfounded.  He added that it would not be worth running  a restaurant without an alcohol licence. The previous owners had caused many problems, including the sale of alcohol without a licence but he had operated for 20 years with no problems.

In response to a question from a member of the Sub-Committee as to whether anyone had visited the premises to inspect the speakers, the Licensing Officer said that, prior to this application, the Council’s Noise Officer had carried out a lot of work with the applicant. He noted that the Noise Team had not made a representation. The applicant had agreed to conditions proposed by the Noise Team and had also said that he would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 128.