Agenda and minutes

90-92 Great Portland Street, W1 (“The Premises”)

17/07371/LIPN

1.

Sale by Retail of Alcohol (Off)

Amendments to application advised at hearing:

During the hearing, Mr Brown proposed on behalf of residents the hours for off sales and the opening hours to the public of 10:00 to 20:00 Monday to Saturday and 10:00 to 18:00 on Sundays.  These were agreed by the Applicant.

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

The Sub-Committee heard from Mr Twyman, representing the Applicant.  He stated that the Applicant intended to open a retail shop, specialising in selling top end of the market alcoholic products, in particular spirits.  The Sub-Committee was advisd that the Applicant had been operating a shop in Bedford Street for two years without any issues arising.  Mr Twyman was concerned that the nature of the application had been somewhat misconstrued as to what was being proposed by objectors to the application.  This he believed may have resulted from what had appeared on the holding company’s website.  There was a letter of response on behalf of the Applicant to the residents’ written representations in the Sub-Committee’s report.

The Sub-Committee asked Mr Twyman for clarification as the application was for the sale of alcohol for consumption off the Premises but there had been references to the Applicant holding tasting events at the Premises which would potentially involve on sales.  He replied that if there was a tasting event free of charge, which did not amount to the sale of alcohol this was not a licensable activity.  He had agreed with Environmental Health that any events held at the Premises which were not free of charge would be dealt with under Temporary Event Notices (‘TENs’).  This would restrict the number of events to a maximum of 15 per annum.  Mr Twyman added that he did not expect these events to be lengthy.  They were likely to be completed by 21:00 and would involve 90 – 120 minute presentations.

Mr Twyman wished to put on record that there would be no late night collections which had been raised as a concern by local residents.  Deliveries would normally take place between 08:00  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1.

Green Man Public House, 57 Berwick Street, W1 (“The Premises”)

17/07395/LIPV

1.

To vary the sale of alcohol on Sunday (to include Sunday immediately prior to a bank holiday) to commence at 10:00 hours.  The commencement hour on the existing premises licence on Sundays is midday.

Amendments to application advised at hearing:

None.

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

The Applicant (Mitchells And Butlers Leisure Retail Ltd) submitted an application for a variation of the premises licence at 57 Berwick Street and also an application for a variation of the premises licence at 37-38 Marlborough Street.  These two applications were scheduled for the same Licensing Sub-Committee meeting on 7 September 2017.  The two applications were heard together by the Sub-Committee with the agreement of the parties to the hearing as the Applicant in both cases was seeking to bring the commencement hour forward for the sale of alcohol on Sunday from midday to 10:00 hours.  The Sub-Committee would however, produce separate Decisions for each of the Premises. It was noted that both premises are located within the Council’s West End Cumulative Impact Area.

The Sub-Committee heard from Ms Jung.  She stated that the Green Man Public House which opened at 09:00 provided a substantial breakfast menu (included in the report), catering for tourists and weekend shoppers in particular.  Ms Jung explained that the Applicant wished to enable customers to be given the option of  having an alcoholic drink such as a glass of prosecco or a bloody mary with their breakfast.  She added that there was no intention to have drinks promotions or advertise the fact that there would be sales of alcohol on Sunday mornings.

Ms Jung stated  that the Applicant was well aware that the Premises  is located in the West End Cumulative Impact Area and that the proposed hours were outside of the Council’s Core Hours policy (Core Hours commences at midday on Sundays).  She made the case for the application being an “exception” to the Council’s policy and that the application would not add to cumulative impact.  Ms Jung referred in particular to paragraph 2.4.1 of the City Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy (“SLP”) that specific locations in the City had ‘been identified as cumulative impact areas because the cumulative effect of the concentration of late night and drink led premises and/or night cafés has led to serious problems of disorder and/or public nuisance affecting residents, visitors and other businesses’.  She had also identified other instances where the SLP had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

O’Neill’s, 37-38 Great Marlborough Street, W1 (“The Premises”)

17/07390/LIPV

1.

To vary the sale of alcohol on Sunday (to include Sunday immediately prior to a bank holiday) to commence at 10:00 hours.  The commencement hour on the existing premises licence on Sundays is midday.

Amendments to application advised at hearing:

None.

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

The Applicant (Mitchells And Butlers Leisure Retail Ltd) submitted an application for a variation of the premises licence at 57 Berwick Street and also an application for a variation of the premises licence at 37-38 Marlborough Street.  These two applications were scheduled for the same Licensing Sub-Committee meeting on 7 September 2017.  The two applications were heard together by the Sub-Committee with the agreement of the parties to the hearing as the Applicant in both cases was seeking to bring the commencement hour forward for the sale of alcohol on Sunday from midday to 10:00 hours.  The Sub-Committee would however, produce separate Decisions for each of the Premises. It was noted that both premises are located within the Council’s West End Cumulative Impact Area.

The Sub-Committee heard from Ms Jung.  She stated that O’Neills which opened at 09:00 provided a substantial breakfast menu (included in the report), catering for tourists and weekend shoppers in particular.  Ms Jung explained that the Applicant wished to enable customers to be given the option of having an alcoholic drink such as a glass of prosecco or a bloody mary with their breakfast.  She added that there was no intention to have drinks promotions or advertise the fact that there would be sales of alcohol on Sunday mornings.

Ms Jung stated that the Applicant was well aware that the Premises  is located in the West End Cumulative Impact Area and that the proposed hours were outside of the Council’s Core Hours policy (Core Hours commences at midday on Sundays).  She made the case for the application being an exception to the Council’s policy and that the application would not add to cumulative impact.  Ms Jung referred in particular to paragraph 2.4.1 of the City Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy that specific locations in the City had ‘been identified as cumulative impact areas because the cumulative effect of the concentration of late night and drink led premises and/or night cafés has led to serious problems of disorder and/or public nuisance affecting residents, visitors and other businesses’.  She had also identified other instances where the SLP had indicated that it was particularly the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Basement And Ground Floor, 19 New Quebec Street, W1 (“The Premises”)

17/06994/LIPN

1.

Sale by Retail of Alcohol (On and Off)

Amendments to application advised at hearing:

None.

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

The Sub-Committee heard from Mr Rascle that he had opened the Premises as a fishmonger approximately three years ago.  He wished to be able to sell French and Japanese alcohol for consumption on and off the premises Tuesday to Saturday 10:00 to 23:00 and Sunday 09:30 to 22:30.  This was in keeping with the fish sold, including sushi.  The Applicant envisaged that on the ground floor alcohol would be available in the indoor and external seated eating areas and in the basement there would be a seafood / oyster bar.  There would be a maximum of 12 people in the basement bar area.  It was intended that there would be a training/testing area in the basement where there would be classes such as wine tasting and a demonstration of how to prepare fish.  This area would have up to 12 people sitting and 6 people standing.  The overall proposed capacity was 20 upstairs and 30 downstairs.  There would be a maximum of 6 people in the external area.  There would be no primary cooking at the Premises.

Mr Rascle was given the opportunity to respond to the written representation from the local resident who had objected to the application.  The local resident was not in attendance at the hearing.  The Sub-Committee noted that the local resident had referred to significant problems with noise from Arabesque and The Grazing Goat in New Quebec Street.  He also experienced nuisance from building work and rubbish in the street. The Sub-Committee had noted the comments in that objection but had to consider the application on its individual merits with a view to promoting the licensing objectives. Mr Rascle advised that he had some twenty eight years’ experience of catering.  He expressed the view that Portman Estate were working to improve the street and that some of the scaffolding was beginning to be removed.  He would be restricting the potential for noise, including that rubbish would not be collected until 08:30 or 09:00 in the morning.  He had a storage facility for rubbish.  Most of the food would be prepared downstairs and the outside area would not be used at a late hour.

The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.