Agenda item

(Director of Neighbourhoods) To consider the attached report.

The three Councillors that presided over this item were Cllrs B Surtees (Chairman), A Lion and C P Pond. The Chairman welcomed the participants and requested that they introduce themselves to the Sub-Committee. In attendance on behalf of the premises were: Mr M Phipps, Solicitor for Greene King Retailing Limited; and Mr M O’Connor of Greene King Retailing Limited. In attendance on behalf of Essex Police were: P Jones; G Ashford; and J Nash. In attendance on behalf of the Licensing Authority was Mr J Nolan and Mrs N Clark. There were no Objectors in attendance. The Chairman then introduced the Members and Officers present and outlined the procedure that would be followed for the determination of the review.

 

The Application before the Sub-Committee

 

The Licensing Manager stated that Essex Police had made an application for a Summary Review of the Premises Licence issued to Nu Bar at 153 High Road, Loughton on 9 February 2017, under Section 53A of the Licensing Act 2003. It was the opinion of Essex Police that the Premises were associated with serious crime and serious disorder. Within 48 hours of receiving the application from Essex Police, the Council as the Licensing Authority had agreed to suspend the Premises Licence until a full review hearing could be scheduled. This meeting represented the full review hearing and the Sub-Committee was tasked with determining the future of the Premises Licence.

 

Mr P Jones of Essex Police reported that this was the second review of the Premises Licence undertaken during the last twelve months, with the previous review having been considered in May 2016. The application to suspend the Premises Licence had resulted from incidents that occurred on the night of 4/5 February 2017 where there was suspected admittance of patrons after the permitted hours, and a suspected fight within the Premises at approximately 1.15am resulting in injuries which required paramedical attention. Consequently, Essex Police was requesting the removal of the Designated Premises Supervisor and the agreement of the following proposed hours of operation for the Premises:

 

(a)        Opening Hours Monday to Sunday 8.00am to 11.30pm;

 

(b)        Sale of Alcohol & Recorded Music 11.00am to 11.00pm;

 

(c)        Seasonal variations for Sale of Alcohol & Recorded Music to be 12.00am, 1.00am on New Year’s Eve; and

 

(d)        Seasonal variations for Opening Hours to be 12.30am, 1.30am on New Year’s Eve.

 

In addition, Essex Police was also requesting the imposition of 22 new conditions on the Licence.

 

Presentation of the Premises’ Case

 

Mr M Phipps, representing Greene King, informed the Sub-Committee that the evidence submitted by Essex Police, and the letters submitted to the Review Hearing, made sorry reading and gave a poor impression of Greene King – which was highly unusual. Greene King entirely accepted the evidence provided by the Police, offered no challenge to it, and accepted that there had been a flagrant disregard of the Licence conditions at the Premises. Greene King had been striving to remove the Operator and regain possession of the Premises, and this had been finally achieved on 3 March 2017.

 

Mr Phipps completely accepted that the Police wanted the nature of the Premises to change from being a late-night venue that was entertainment led. The proposed hours of operation were old-style pub hours not club hours, and this had been backed up by the amended operating schedule which would entirely replace the existing operating schedule. It was also highlighted that the Premises would no longer be known as ‘The Nu Bar’.

 

Mr Phipps emphasised some of the new proposed conditions to the Sub-Committee:

 

(1)        Substantial food and non-intoxicating beverages shall be available in all parts of the premises where alcohol was sold or supplied for consumption on the premises up to 9.00pm.

 

(2)        After 10.00pm each day, patrons permitted to temporarily leave and then re-enter the premises, e.g. to smoke, shall not be permitted to take drinks or glass containers with them; notices to that effect wouldl be displayed at the premises exits.

 

(3)        The premises shall install and maintain a comprehensive CCTV system.

 

(5)        A ‘Challenge 25’ scheme would be operated , whereby any person who appeared to be under 25 years of age was required to produce means of identification proving they were over 18 years of age; the only acceptable forms of identification were a photo driving licence, passport, Military ID Card or Proof of Age Card with the PASS hologram.

 

(7)        An incident log shall be kept at the premises, and made available on request to the Police/Local Authority.

 

(20)      Section 177A(2) of the Licensing Act 2003 was to have no effect and both live and recorded music were to treated as regulated entertainment.

 

Mr Phipps highlighted that the proposed new condition (20) dis-applied the de-regulation of musical entertainment, which was now to be treated as regulated entertainment under the Licensing Act 2003.

 

Mr Phipps also invited the Sub-Committee to continue the suspension of the Premises Licence, imposed on 10 February by the Council at the request of Essex Police, for a further 21 days. It was obvious that the Premises needed a change of emphasis as a business and a prolonged cooling off period would help with this; hence the request to continue the suspension of the Premises Licence. Greene King wanted to avoid a third review of the Premises at all costs, and accepted that the Premises would be closed down permanently if there were any more issues.

 

Questions for the Premises from the Sub-Committee

 

Mr Phipps stated that the existing Designated Premises Supervisor no longer had any rights to the Premises; Essex Police wanted that individual removed from the Licence at the Premises, and Greene King had no objection to this. There was dialogue with the previous Operator, and attempts were made to get them to comply with the previous conditions on the Licence, although it was accepted that more effort should have been made. Greene King decided in October 2016 that the previous Operator of the Premises had to go, but it did take a little time to achieve this.

 

Mr Phipps acknowledged that the core business of Greene King was public houses, serving alcohol up to 12 midnight usually. The business being operated at The Nu Bar did not conform to this model. The Premises was shut during the afternoons and there were generally no customers before 9pm whenever the Premises was visited.

 

Mr Phipps welcomed the representations from Residents for this review had acknowledged some improvement at the Premises after the previous review, however it was also noted that the Premises had not traded much in the previous ten months which might have explained the slight improvement.

 

Mr Phipps informed the Sub-Committee that the informal discussions with Essex Police would continue to further cultivate the relationship recently established, and accepted that this process should have been initiated earlier. Greene King hoped that Essex Police accepted their efforts to improve the Premises were in good faith, and fully acknowledged that if the recent dialogue was not maintained then Essex Police would initiate a further review of the Premises.

 

Greene King would undertake their usual vetting process of the potential new Operator, which worked in 99% of cases although it was accepted that it didn’t previously at the Premises, and would introduce the potential new operator to Essex Police. There would be regular weekly visits and discussions with the new Operator by the Regional Managers to ensure that the previous problems at the Premises would not recur.

 

Questions for Essex Police from the Sub-Committee

 

Mr G Ashford stated that Essex Police was initially looking for a full revocation of the Licence at the Premises; however, Essex Police acknowledged that Greene King was generally a responsible Licence Holder across the county and was happy for them to have a second chance to run a business at the Premises. It was reiterated that this was a final opportunity for the Premises to trade without causing a public nuisance.

 

Mr Ashford confirmed that the amended operating schedule had been agreed with Greene King; Appendix A contained the retained conditions, whilst Appendix B contained the additional or new conditions for the Premises Licence.

 

Mr Ashford confirmed that the Premises owned by Greene King across the county were generally well run, although it was emphasised that if the Operator of the Premises had not been removed then Essex Police would have sought to have the Premises closed down. It was stated emphatically that Essex Police would object to any further applications for Temporary Event Notices or variation of hours made by the Premises.

 

Closing Statement from Essex Police

 

Mr Jones stated that Essex Police requested the removal of the Designated Premises Supervisor from the Licence, and the new hours and conditions provisionally agreed with Greene King to be imposed on the Premises.

 

Consideration of the Application by the Sub-Committee

 

The Sub-Committee considered the summary review of the Premises requested by Essex Police.

 

In its deliberations, the Sub-Committee received no further advice from the Officers present and took account of the fact that Greene King, the Licence Holder, had given assurances that they would maintain an effective dialogue with Essex Police. The Sub-Committee felt that Greene King should be reminded of the need to maintain this dialogue with Essex Police to help prevent any further public nuisance occurring at the Premises.

 

The Sub-Committee found that there had been repeated and very serious instances of crime and disorder at the Premises, and felt that the proposed conditions agreed between Essex Police and Greene King were necessary to prevent any further crime and disorder occurring again at the Premises in the future. In addition, the interim step imposed on the Premises Licence should continue, and the Licence should be suspended for a further 21 days as requested by Greene King. Finally, the Sub-Committee concurred with Essex Police and agreed that the Designated Premises Supervisor should be removed from the Licence with immediate effect.

 

Resolved:

 

(1)        That the following revised hours of operation and licensable activities be agreed to replace the current hours of operation and licensable activities:

 

            (a)        Opening Hours, Monday to Sunday    8.00am to 11.30pm;

 

            (b)        Sale of Alcohol & Recorded Music, Monday to Sunday 11.00am to   11.00pm;

 

            (c)        Seasonal Variations for Opening Hours to be 12.30am, 1.30am on   New Year’s Eve; and

 

            (d)        Seasonal Variations for Sale of Alcohol & Recorded Music to be      12.00am, 1.00am on New Year’s Eve;

 

(2)        That the conditions set out in Appendix A and Appendix B (as attached) be agreed to replace the current operating schedule;

 

(3)        That the Designated Premises Supervisor, Ms S Collins, be removed from the Premises Licence;

 

(4)        That the current suspension of the Licence for the Premises, imposed by the Licensing Authority on 10 February 2017 as an interim step, be continued for a further period of 21 days from the date of notification of this decision; and

 

(5)        That Greene King be reminded to continue their recent dialogue with Essex Police concerning the Premises to prevent future occurrences of public nuisance.