Agenda and minutes

Frith Street Hotel, 56-57 Frith Street, W1D 3JG

16/07867/LIPN

1.

On and Off Sales by retail of Alcohol

Monday to Saturday: 10:00 – 23:00

Sunday: 12:00 – 22:30

Seasonal variations/Non-standard timings:

From the end of permitted hours on New Year’s Eve to the start of permitted hours on New Year’s Day.

On Sundays prior to bank holiday 12:00 – 23:00

Residents and their bona fide guests 00:00 – 24:00

2.

Hours Premises are Open to the Public

Monday to Saturday: 07:00 – 23:30

Sunday: 08:00 – 00:00

Seasonal variations/Non-standard timings:

From the end of permitted hours on New Year’s Eve to the start of permitted hours on New Year’s Day.

On Sundays prior to bank holiday 12:00 – 23:30

Residents and their bona fide guests 00:00 – 24:00

Amendments to application advised at hearing:

None

Decision (including reasons if different from those set out in report):

The Sub-Committee considered an application by Soho Bau Ltd for a new premises licence in respect of Frith Street Hotel, 56-57 Frith Street, W1D 3JG.

The Licensing Officer provided an outline of the application to the Sub-Committee.

All parties were invited to make representations to the Sub-Committee in relation to the application.  The parties responded to members’ questions and were given an opportunity to ask questions of each other.

Mr Thomas, representing the applicant, provided the Sub-Committee with an explanation as to why this application should be considered  an exception to the  Cumulative Impact Policy under the City Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy (“SLP”). It was firstly explained that the sale of alcohol would be permitted only until 23:00 with members of the public being required to leave the premises by 23:30. This would be in line with the planning permission already granted for the premises. Sales of alcohol would also only take place to patrons seated and whilst it was recognised that this was not an exception itself it was consistent with exceptions to the policy. Secondly, the Hotels Policy – HOT1 under the SLP, suggested that even in a Cumulative Impact Area hotel bars would be granted unless late hours had been requested which was not the case in this application. Subsection (b) of the Policy states that “The hours of serving alcohol to the general public will be subject to conditions limiting the sale of alcohol after a specified time to those attending pre-booked events held at the hotel.” This inferred that if conditions were in place to stop the consumption of alcohol after 23:00 hotel bars were acceptable even in a Cumulative Impact Area. Another reason why this application was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1.

Adult World, 5 Walker’s Court, London, W1F 0BT

2.

Layout Alteration

The application was to vary the layout of an existing Sex Establishment as shown on the plans to allow the basement area to be included within the licenced area. It was proposed for three booths to be located on the premises to allow customers to preview videos prior to purchasing.

Amendments to application advised at hearing:

None

Decision (including reasons if different from those set out in report):

The Sub-Committee considered an application by Unique Mood Limited for a variation of a premises licence in respect of Adult World, 5 Walker’s Court, W1F 0BT.

The Licensing Officer provided an outline of the application to the Sub-Committee.

All parties were invited to make representations to the Sub-Committee in relation to the application.  The parties responded to members’ questions and were given an opportunity to ask questions of each other.

Mr Clarke confirmed that currently only the ground floor of the premises was licenced and it was proposed to extend the licensed area to the basement in order to install three preview booths. No objections had been received aside from the Licensing Authority and efforts had been made to address the concerns raised regarding the potential misuse of the booths. The Sub-Committee was advised that the booths would be single occupancy accessed through the rear of the shop and any customer wanting to preview a movie would be escorted to the booths by a member of staff. CCTV would be installed to cover the area outside the booths in order to allow staff to monitor customer behaviour in the basement. It was explained CCTV would not be installed inside the booths, however each booth would have a spyhole in the door to allow staff to ensure no indecent behaviour took place inside. Customers would be able to lock the booth doors from the inside however this could be overridden by staff from the outside at any time. It was stated that the he same style booths had been used at similar premises nearby with no reported difficulties or problems. The application wanted to provide an extra facility for customers, there was no reason to expect any problems and conditions attached could address any immediate concerns raised by the Licensing Authority.

Mr Rowe, representing the licensing authority, explained that the representation was maintained. Every sex establishment was subject to standard conditions, including one which governed indecent behaviour. Concern was raised that there was the potential for indecent behaviour to take place inside the booths as they could be locked from the inside and it would be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.