Agenda item
Scotch St James, 13 Masons Yard, SW1Y (SEV application)
|
App No |
Ward/ Stress Area |
Site Name and Address |
Application |
Licensing Reference Number |
|
3. |
St James’s / Core Central Activities Zone North |
Scotch St James, 13 Masons Yard, SW1Y |
Renewals of SEV |
13/07456/LISEVR and 14/11495/LISEVR |
Minutes:
LICENSING SUB-COMMITTEE No. 4
Thursday 30th July 2015
Membership: Councillor Tim Mitchell (Chairman), Councillor Louise Hyams and Councillor Rita Begum
Legal Adviser: Barry Panto
Policy Adviser: Chris Wroe
Committee Officer: Jonathan Deacon
Objections: 2 objectors.
Present: Mr Gary Grant (Counsel, representing the Applicant) and Mr Tim Lalic (owner of premises).
Declarations: Councillors Tim Mitchell and Louise Hyams declared that the venue is located in the ward they both represent, St James’s. Councillor Mitchell also declared that he had previously made a representation for a previous application relating to the premises on behalf of St James’s Conservation Trust. Neither Member had a personal or prejudicial interest in respect of the application. Mr Grant stated at the hearing that he had no objection to the two Members considering the application.
|
Scotch St James, 13 Masons Yard, SW1 13/07456/LISEVR and 14/11495/LISEVR
|
|
1.1 The Council has received two renewal applications of the Sexual Entertainment Venue (‘SEV’) premises licence from Great Club Limited for Scotch St James, 13 Masons Yard, London, SW1Y 6BU. The report set out the application details, representations, policy and legal context along with other considerations that the Committee required to determine this application.
1.2 On 30th September 2013 the Applicant applied to renew the SEV premises licence to provide full nudity striptease, pole dancing and table dancing between the hours of 09:00 to 05:30 on each of the days Monday to Saturday and 09:00 to 03:30 on Sunday. The Applicant did not request to change the relevant entertainment or to remove any standard conditions to the licence if the application was granted. The original hearing to determine the 2013-2014 renewal was scheduled for the 17th December 2013 however this was adjourned at the request of the applicant. The case was not re-scheduled as the Licensing Authority did not get a response from the Applicant.
1.3 On the 19th January 2015 the Licensing Authority contacted the Applicant to advise that as the 12 month period that licences are issued for had passed without the application being determined by the Licensing Sub Committee and as no renewal application had been received, the premises were deemed unlicensed for relevant entertainment. 1.4 On the 23rd January 2015 the Applicant’s solicitor responded stating that in accordance with Section 20(10) of the 1982 Act it must be deemed to remain in force until such determination takes place or the application is withdrawn. Legal advice has confirmed that this should have been a reference to paragraph 11(1) of Schedule 3 to the 1982 Act but also confirms that the licence would remain in force until the renewal application is determined. 1.5 After seeking legal advice the Licensing Authority advised the Applicant to submit a further renewal application as a potential means by which renewal of the licence for 2014-2015 could be considered. On 8th May 2015 the Applicant applied to renew the sexual entertainment venue premises licence on exactly the same terms as those in the existing SEV licence and in the application for 2013-14.
|
|
Amendments to application advised at hearing: |
|
None.
|
|
Decision (including reasons if different from those set out in report): |
|
Granted, subject to the same conditions as attached to the previous licence in 2012.
The Sub-Committee in granting the applications accepted the point of the Applicant’s Representative, Mr Grant, that there were not any grounds for the applications not to be renewed. The proposed hours and conditions were the same as those attached to the SEV licence in 2012. Complaints were not being received about how the venue was being run since the current operator had taken over (Objector 3 to the application had referred to noise disruption, bad behaviour and general issues relating to people leaving the premises). Previous management had been running Scotch St James when the review of the premises licence had taken place in November 2012. There were few representations in respect of the 2013-14 and 2014-15 applications in comparison to the SEV application granted in 2012. There was no evidence in terms of complaints received to suggest that Scotch St James was now having an adverse impact on the character of the relevant locality or that anything had changed within the locality since 2012 to make it unsuitable. It is located in Westminster core CAZ north. The appropriate number of SEVs in this area had been set by the Council at 25 and as the premises are currently licensed, the maximum of 25 would not be exceeded.
Mr Grant advised the Sub-Committee that his client was not currently using the SEV licence. Mr Lalic was applying because it was a valuable asset and it was a condition on his lease that it remained in force. The representation of Objector 1 had been withdrawn on the basis of the Applicant’s assurances that it was not the intention to operate Scotch St James as a sexual entertainment venue. The Sub-Committee had taken note of the objections of Objector 2 and had requested legal advice from Mr Panto on the points that the objector had raised. Mr Panto stated that it had been unfortunate that a year had passed without the application being processed and that the Licensing Authority had incorrectly stated that as no renewal application had been received, the premises were deemed unlicensed for relevant entertainment. Under the provisions of The Local Government Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1982, the previous licence did indeed remain in force. It was permitted for the Applicant to submit a further renewal application as had now taken place and for the Sub-Committee to consider the first and second applications submitted. The Licensing Service was satisfied that the notice (blue) of the application was displayed on the premises within the required time limit.
|
|
Conditions on the Licence |
|
Standard Conditions
1. Whilst Relevant Entertainment is taking place no person under the age of 18 shall be on the licensed premises and a clear notice to that effect shall be displayed at the entrance in a prominent position so that it can be easily read by persons entering the premises.
2. Whenever persons under the age of 18 are admitted to the premises there will be no promotional or other material on display within the premises which depicts nudity or partial nudity.
3. The licence or a clear copy shall be prominently displayed at all times so as to be readily and easily seen by all persons using the premises.
4. No provision of relevant entertainment, or material depicting nudity or relevant entertainment, shall be visible from outside the premises.
5. Menus and drinks price lists shall be clearly displayed at the front entrance of the club, reception area, tables and bar at such a position and size as to be easily read by customers. This price list shall show all consumable items and any minimum tariff including charges and fees applicable to Performers.
6. Except with the consent of the Licensing Authority, no advertisements of any kind (including placard, poster, sticker, flyer, picture, letter, sign or other mark) shall be inscribed or affixed at the premises, on the surface of the highway or on any building, structure, works, street furniture, tree or any other property or be distributed in the street to the public that advertises or promotes the relevant entertainment at the premises. 7. The licence holder or other person concerned in the conduct or management of the premises shall not seek to obtain custom by means of personal solicitation or touting, nor enter into any agreement with a third party to do so.
8. Adequate toilets, washing and changing facilities for use by the Performers shall be provided.
9. Either the licence holder or a named responsible person shall be present throughout the time the Relevant Entertainment takes place.
10. The premises will install and maintain a comprehensive CCTV system as per the minimum requirements of a Metropolitan Police Crime Prevention Officer that ensures all areas of the licensed premises are monitored including all entry and exit points will be covered enabling frontal identification of every person entering any light condition. All cameras shall continually record whilst the premises is open for licensable activities and during all times when customers remain on the premises. All recordings shall be stored for a minimum period of 31 days with date and time stamping. Recordings shall be made available immediately upon the request of Police or authorised officer throughout the preceding 31 day period together with facilities for viewing.
11. A staff member from the premises who is conversant with the operation of the CCTV system shall be on the premises at all times when the premises is open to the public and this staff member should be able to show Police recent data and footage with the absolute minimum of delay of the request.
12. An incident log shall be kept at the premises, and made available on request to the Licensing Authority or the Police, which will record the following: (a) all crimes reported to the venue; (b) all ejections of patrons; (c) any complaints received; (d) any incidents of disorder; (e) seizures of drugs or offensive weapons; (f) any faults in the CCTV system or searching equipment or scanning equipment; (g) any refusal of the sale of alcohol; (h) any visit by a relevant authority or emergency service; (i) any breach of licence conditions reported by a Performer.
13. The licence holder shall produce a Code of Conduct setting out rules and obligations between the licence holder and performers whilst performing. All Performers shall sign the Code of Conduct in their proper name acknowledging that they have read, understood and are prepared to abide by the said Code of Conduct, and a copy so signed shall be retained by the licence holder and shall be readily available for inspection by the Police and/or authorised persons upon reasonable request.
14. Individual records shall be kept at the premises of the real names, stage names and addresses of all Performers working at the premises. The record will include either a copy of their birth certificate, current passport, EU driving licence or national identity card and shall be made immediately available for inspection by the Police and/or the Licensing Authority upon request.
15. Details of all work permits and/or immigration status relating to persons working at the premises shall be retained by the licence holder and be readily available for inspection by the Licensing Authority, a Police Officer or Immigration Officer.
16. Relevant Entertainment shall be given only by Performers and the audience shall not be permitted to participate in the relevant entertainment.
17. There shall be no physical contact between Performers whilst performing.
18. Performers will not request or give out any telephone number, address or any other contact information from or to any customer. Any such information given by a customer shall be surrendered to the premises manager as soon as is practicable.
19. Relevant Entertainment shall take place only in the designated areas approved by the Licensing Authority as shown on the licence plan. Arrangements for access to the dressing room shall be maintained at all times whilst Relevant Entertainment is taking place and immediately thereafter.
20. Customers must remain fully clothed at all times. The Performer must not remove any of the customer's clothing at any time.
21. Where Relevant Entertainment is provided in booths, or other areas of the premises where private performances are provided, the booth or area shall not have a door or other similar closure, the area shall be constantly monitored by CCTV, and access to the booth or other area shall be adequately supervised.
22. Whenever Relevant Entertainment is being provided there shall be no physical contact between Performers and customers or between customers and Performers except for the exchanging of money or tokens at the beginning or conclusion of the performance and only for the purpose of that performance. Clearly legible notices to this effect shall clearly be displayed in each private booth and in any performance area.
23. Performers must redress fully immediately after each performance.
Additional Conditions
24. Payment for the dance shall only be made by either adding the amount to the customer's bill or by paying the dancer after she returns to the table fully clothed.
25. At all times whilst dancing takes place at least one registered door supervisor shall be employed in the part of the premises used for dancing.
26. The maximum number of persons accommodated at any one time (excluding staff) shall not exceed 100 persons, with no more than 50 persons (excluding staff) between 03.00 and 05.00 hours.
27. All emergency doors shall be maintained effectively self closing and not held open other than by an approved device.
28. The edges of the treads of steps and stairways shall be maintained so as to be conspicuous.
29. Curtains and hangings shall be arranged so as not to obstruct emergency signs.
30. The approved arrangements at the premises, including means of escape provisions, emergency warning equipment, the electrical installation and mechanical equipment, shall at all material times be maintained in good condition and full working order.
31. The means of escape provided for the premises shall be maintained unobstructed, free of trip hazards, be immediately available and clearly identified in accordance with the plans provided.
32. All exit doors shall be available at all material times without the use of a key, code, card or similar means.
33. Any special effects or mechanical installations shall be arranged and stored so as to minimise any risk to the safety of those using the premises. The following special effects will only be used on 10 days prior notice being given to the Licensing Authority where consent has not previously been given.
i. pyrotechnics including fire works ii. firearms iii. lasers iv. explosives and highly flammable substances. v. real flame. vi. strobe lighting
34. No noise shall emanate from the premises nor vibration be transmitted through the structure of the premises which gives rise to a nuisance.
35. No relevant entertainment shall take place at the premises until the premises has been inspected to the satisfaction of the Licensing Service and Environmental Health Service.
|
Supporting documents:
PDF 7 MB