Agenda and draft minutes

Councillor Bashir Ibrahim 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 Ilkay Cinko-Oner.

Councillor Nurullah Turan substituted for Councillor Ilkay Cinko-Oner.

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.

There were no declarations of interest.

The order of business would be as the agenda.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 7 January 2025 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

The Licensing Officer was asked to provide updates to the Sub-Committee. In response the Licensing Officer advised that there was no additional information and all additional submissions from the applicant and responses from the interested parties had been circulated to the members of the Sub-Committee. It was noted that the residents had not confirmed whether they would be attending.

The Chair noted that there were no interested parties in attendance and moved to request that the applicant presented their key points

The applicant’s agent stated that the nearest off licence was a three-minute walk away and that there was another off licence a seven-minute walk away. The applicant wished to sell organic produce and mentioned that there were no other shops locally that sold organic produce. The agent added that if the premises licence was granted then customers would be able to purchase alcohol and would not need to go to other shops to buy alcohol. There were also plans to sell organic alcohol. The Sub-Committee noted that following discussions with the police, the closing time for the premises had been reduced to 11pm, so the premises would not be a late-night premises, additionally the premises was not in a cumulative impact area.  The applicant’s agent also added that the applicant had 15 years’ experience managing an off-licence premises in Hackney where there had been no issues reported during the 15 years.

In response to a question from the Sub-Committee regarding alcohol offerings, it was advised that alcohol would be limited to one shelf on the shop floor, although spirits would be kept behind the till. The premises would offer spirits, wine, champagne and beer.

The Sub-Committee asked the applicant about their knowledge on the local area, in response to this question, it was stated that the area was a nice area and that the premises acted as a safe haven and served the community.

In summary, the applicant’s agent stated that she had written to the objectors but had not received any response. They are not aware of any antisocial behaviour in the local area and there was enough condition proposed and accepted for this application.

RESOLVED:

That the Sub-Committee had decided to grant the application for a new premises licence in respect of World Organic & Wholefoods, 495-497 Hornsey Road, N19 3QL to allow: -

a)    The sale of alcohol, off the premises, Mondays to Sundays from 08:00 to 23:00.

b)    The premises opening hours, Mondays to Sundays, from 08:00 to 23:00.

Conditions detailed on pages 48 to 50 of the agenda shall 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 4.  The Council has adopted a special policy relating to cumulative impact in relation to shops and other premises selling  ...  view the full minutes text for item 153.

The Licensing Officer was asked to provide updates to the Sub-Committee. In response, the Licensing Officer advised that the applicant provided a Consultants Expert Report on House of Doner and this was shared with the Sub-Committee ahead of the meeting. The hours initially sought were longer and although the hours had been bought back, it still remained outside of the licensing hours. There were concerns that the premises had no commitment to delivery drivers being non-motorised. Concerns were raised around safety as the premises was located on a busy road within a cumulative impact zone. In addition, there was a lack of detail in how the premises would be managed, for example in relation to security late at night, and how the premises would be operated.

The Sub-Committee noted that representations had also been received from the Police and Islington’s Community Safety Team.  Six local resident objections had been received.  The Sub-Committee noted that conditions had been agreed with the Noise Team.

The Police stated that the hours sought were outside of the framework hours for trading. It was mentioned that the additional Consultants Expert Report was based on findings from a 5-hour period in one day and lacked credibility. The area where the premises was located had history of a complex night life with crime in the area being massively under reported, therefore actual figures would be much higher with many visitors and foreign tourists not reporting crimes before returning home. It was noted that the police operation in the area continued to target crime and keep victims to a minimum.  Although conditions had been agreed with the applicant, the police remained of the view that the licensing objectives would not be promoted by the grant of a licence outside framework hours. 

Upon questioning, the police confirmed that they did not believe that the licensing objectives could be promoted with the addition of further conditions if the hours remained outside framework hours. It was added that as the area already had a number of licensed late opening food providing locations, this would make it harder to police the area and distinguish between law abiding citizens and those with other aims who were wishing to loiter and not disperse.

The Sub-Committee heard evidence from one resident objector who stated that she had good relationships with businesses in the local area and was fully supportive of regeneration in the area. The resident raised concerns that the premises was located next to Fabric and also stated that this would be the second donner shop in the area to be open until late. It was mentioned that there was regular anti-social behaviour in the area and that the corner where the premises was located was notorious for people loitering, sitting, eating, drinking and playing loud music. The resident raised concerns that in recent years, the area had increased public safety and crime issues had been changing the history of the area as it was frightening and unsafe to walk around.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 154.