Agenda item
VICTORIA NEWS, 87 VICTORIA STREET SW1
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App No |
Ward / Cumulative Impact Area |
Site Name and Address |
Application |
Licensing Reference Number |
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3. |
St James’s / not in cumulative impact area |
Victoria News, 87 Victoria Street SW1 |
New |
16/04130/LIPN
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Minutes:
LICENSING SUB-COMMITTEE No. 4
Thursday 28th July 2016
Membership: Councillor Jean-Paul Floru (Chairman), Councillor Susie Burbridge and Councillor Louise Hyams
Legal Adviser: Barry Panto
Policy Adviser: Chris Wroe
Committee Officer: Jonathan Deacon
Presenting Officer: Ola Owojori
Relevant Representations: Environmental Health, Metropolitan Police and 1 local resident.
Present: Professor Roy Light (Counsel, representing the Applicants), Mr Richard Baker (Agent, on behalf of the Applicants), Mr Jas and Ms Parm Randhawa (Applicants), Mr Maxwell Koduah (Environmental Health) and PC Michael Day (Metropolitan Police)
Declaration: Councillor Louise Hyams declared that Victoria News is located within the Ward she represents, St James’s Ward.
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Victoria News, 87 Victoria Street, SW1 16/04130/LIPN
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1. |
Late Night Refreshment (Indoors) |
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Monday to Sunday: 23:00 to 05:00
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Amendments to application advised at hearing: |
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None.
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Decision (including reasons if different from those set out in report): |
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The Sub-Committee initially heard from Professor Light, representing the Applicant. He was asked whether he had any objection to Councillor Hyams sitting at the hearing as the Council’s Rules of Procedure states that Members will ‘not normally’ consider applications in their own ward. There is nothing in law which prevents a ward councillor from considering an application in his or her own ward. Professor Light replied that he had no objection to Councillor Hyams sitting.
Professor Light stated that the Applicant Company is Victorian News Ltd and his clients had purchased the shop which was being operated as a convenience store approximately six months ago. The Applicants intended to refurbish the premises after the Sub-Committee took a decision on the current application. Professor Light referred to the representations. He did not believe that Environmental Health and Metropolitan Police had concerns regarding the proposed hours for off sales of alcohol. He made the point that the local resident, Ms Freeman, who had objected to the application lived approximately a third of a mile away. He expressed the view that Ms Freeman had been unclear about the application as she had included in her representation that ‘the sale of alcohol for consumption both on and off the premises is going to be carried out every day with Monday to Saturday operations stretching to 5.00am’. Professor Light requested that little weight was given to Ms Freeman’s representation as the sale of alcohol would only be for consumption off the premises within the Council’s Core Hours policy.
Professor Light explained that in addition to no specific concerns being expressed by the Responsible Authorities regarding the proposed hours for off sales, there should not be significant concerns regarding his clients operating in the Victoria area where there was a known street drinking problem as the Applicants had experience of operating in challenging areas such as in Islington and no issues had arisen. There were also a number of proposed conditions with the current application to prevent street drinking. He added that street drinkers would not be served.
The Sub-Committee asked the Applicants how they intended to prevent street drinkers accessing alcohol. Mr Randhawa replied that he would be working closely with the Police. The street drinkers were not the clientele he was seeking to attract and there would not be a low price point. No single cans or bottles and no super-strength alcohol would be sold.
In addition Professor Light informed Members that the shop would have eight CCTV cameras and the Designated Premises Supervisor and Personal Licence Holder would be training staff. Alcohol would be kept well away from the door. Late Night Refreshment was requested so that the Applicants would be able to provide a microwave facility and hot drinks until 05:00. This would particularly cater for shift workers and cab drivers.
PC Day stated that the Police’s representation was to support the Council’s Core Hours policy. Mr Koduah stated that conditions had been proposed by Environmental Health in order to address potential risks relating to the application. These included limiting the sales area for the provision of late night refreshment to no more than 15% of the sales area and it being ancillary to the main function of the premises as a convenience store. The provision of late night refreshment would be limited to hot drinks and food items that would be warmed by microwave. There would be no primary cooking at the premises. He believed that the conditions proposed by Environmental Health and agreed by the Applicant would prevent problems arising both for the current operation and if the store was sold. Environmental Health had taken into account that the area was becoming increasingly residential. The sale of alcohol was limited within Core Hours and Victoria News is not located in a cumulative impact area. There would be no super-strength sales of alcohol. Only 12 customers could enter the premises at any one time.
The Sub-Committee asked PC Day whether he had any concerns regarding alcohol being sold from 08:00 in an area known for street drinking problems. He replied that the operators would not sell single cans or bottles. The Police would work with the Applicants to help train the staff so that they understood the potential risks and demographic of the local area. PC Day made the point that he was fully aware of the street drinking problem, including in Strutton Ground. However, there was no evidence to believe that there would be problems at the premises at this stage. There had not been problems at the premises to date. He believed that the store was sufficiently far away from Victoria Bus and Underground Stations not to be deemed an immediate risk to the area if alcohol was sold there.
Professor Light was given the opportunity to respond to some of the comments that had been made. He stated that the responsible customers of the shop would far outweigh the small number of street drinkers. The Police had provided no evidence that the proposed hours for off-sales should be curtailed. Appropriate and proportionate conditions had been proposed and all staff would receive the necessary training. He recommended that the Sub-Committee did not speculate about potential problems at the premises that had not been identified in the representations. Mr Baker added that specific alcohol would not be stocked unless agreed with Police.
The Sub-Committee granted the application. Members considered that the Applicant had agreed a number of conditions with the Responsible Authorities which promoted the licensing objectives. These included no sales of single cans or bottles, there being a number of CCTV cameras onsite and also till prompts to verify the age of customers. There had been no evidence provided by the Police or Environmental Health to indicate that there would be issues if the licensable activities were granted to the hours applied for. Off sales of alcohol would be within the Council’s Core Hours policy. The Police and the Applicants had indicated that they would work closely together to ensure that the licensing objectives were promoted. Staff training appeared to be taken seriously and the Applicant was committed to having a minimum of two staff on duty between 23:00 and 05:00 when late night refreshment sales were taking place. In the event that the staff at the shop did not comply with the conditions and promote the licensing objectives there would be the opportunity to review the premises licence. There was no presumption against the application given that Victoria News is located outside the Council’s designated cumulative impact areas.
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2. |
Sale by retail of alcohol (Off) |
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Monday to Saturday: 08:00 to 23:00 Sunday: 10:00 to 22:30
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Amendments to application advised at hearing: |
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None.
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Decision (including reasons if different from those set out in report): |
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Granted, subject to conditions as set out below (see reasons for decision in Section 1).
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3. |
Opening Hours |
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Monday to Sunday: 00:00 to 00:00
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Amendments to application advised at hearing: |
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None.
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Decision (including reasons if different from those set out in report): |
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Granted, subject to conditions as set out below.
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Conditions attached to the Licence |
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Mandatory Conditions
1. No supply of alcohol may be made at a time when there is no designated premises supervisor in respect of this licence.
2. No supply of alcohol may be made at a time when the designated premises supervisor does not hold a personal licence or the personal licence is suspended.
3. Every supply of alcohol under this licence must be made or authorised by a person who holds a personal licence.
4. (1) The premises licence holder or club premises certificate holder must ensure that an age verification policy is adopted in respect of the premises in relation to the sale or supply of alcohol.
(2) The designated premises supervisor in relation to the premises licence must ensure that the supply of alcohol at the premises is carried on in accordance with the age verification policy. (3) The policy must require individuals who appear to the responsible person to be under 18 years of age (or such older age as may be specified in the policy) to produce on request, before being served alcohol, identification bearing their photograph, date of birth and either— (a) a holographic mark, or (b) an ultraviolet feature.
5(i) A relevant person shall ensure that no alcohol is sold or supplied for consumption on or off the premises for a price which is less than the permitted price.
5(ii) For the purposes of the condition set out in paragraph 5(i) above -
(a) "duty" is to be construed in accordance with the Alcoholic Liquor Duties Act 1979;
(b) "permitted price" is the price found by applying the formula -
P = D+(DxV)
Where -
(i) P is the permitted price, (ii) D is the amount of duty chargeable in relation to the alcohol as if the duty were charged on the date of the sale or supply of the alcohol, and (iii) V is the rate of value added tax chargeable in relation to the alcohol as if the value added tax were charged on the date of the sale or supply of the alcohol;
(c) "relevant person" means, in relation to premises in respect of which there is in force a premises licence -
(i) the holder of the premises licence, (ii) the designated premises supervisor (if any) in respect of such a licence, or (iii) the personal licence holder who makes or authorises a supply of alcohol under such a licence;
(d) "relevant person" means, in relation to premises in respect of which there is in force a club premises certificate, any member or officer of the club present on the premises in a capacity which enables the member or officer to prevent the supply in question; and
(e) "value added tax" means value added tax charged in accordance with the Value Added Tax Act 1994.
5(iii). Where the permitted price given by Paragraph 5(ii)(b) above would (apart from this paragraph) not be a whole number of pennies, the price given by that sub-paragraph shall be taken to be the price actually given by that sub-paragraph rounded up to the nearest penny.
5(iv). (1) Sub-paragraph 5(iv)(2) below applies where the permitted price given by Paragraph 5(ii)(b) above on a day ("the first day") would be different from the permitted price on the next day ("the second day") as a result of a change to the rate of duty or value added tax. (2) The permitted price which would apply on the first day applies to sales or supplies of alcohol which take place before the expiry of the period of 14 days beginning on the second day.
Additional Conditions
6. The premises shall install and maintain a comprehensive CCTV system as per the minimum requirements of the Westminster police licensing team.
7. The entrance will be covered with CCTV enabling frontal identification of every person entering the premises in any light condition.
8. The CCTV system will record during all hours of licensable activity and recordings will be made with date and time stamping and kept for 31 days. Recordings will be made available to the police upon reasonable request which will be provided without undue delay by an authorised staff member and no later than 24 hours after initial request.
9. No miniature spirit bottles below 10cl are to be stocked.
10. No single cans or bottles of beer, lager or cider will be sold.
11. Appropriate written staff alcohol sales training will be satisfactorily completed prior to any staff member being permitted to sell alcohol.
12. Staff alcohol sales training documents to be available for inspection upon reasonable request to authorised officers of a responsible authority.
13. An incident log will be maintained at the premises noting the date and time of any incidents of crime or disorder occuring in the premises or occuring immediately outside the premises which are then reported to the store staff.
14. A refusal log will be maintained at the premises and available at all times the business is open for inspection by the responsible authorities recording the refusal of age related products. The record will include date & time of the refused sale, and the name of the staff member refusing.
15. There will be a minimum of two staff on duty between 23.00 and 05.00 hours. The staff will not permit customers to loiter either in the shop or outside the premises consuming hot food/beverages. There will also be prominent signage displayed with appropriate wording requesting customers to not to make a noise when leaving the premises and respect local residents – In addition to this notice or a separate notice further wording can be added prohibiting consumption of hot food and drink on the premises by customers as a legal condition of the premises licence.
16. Additional external CCTV cameras can be fitted covering the immediate area in from of the main entrance to alert staff should any customer(s) start to consume hot food/beverages with a few feet of the store between the LNR hours. Staff would respond by politely requesting the people to move away from the shop.
17. A litter bin would also be provided close to the store entrance to reduce any potential litter finding its way to the street.
18. The provision of late night refreshment shall be no more than 15% of the sales area at any one time and shall be ancillary to the main function of the premises as a convenience store
19. The provision of late night refreshment shall be limited to hot drinks and food items that shall be warmed by microwave
20. There shall be no primary cooking at the premises
21. All sales of alcohol for consumption off the premises shall be in sealed containers only, and shall not be consumed on the premises
22. All tills shall automatically prompt staff to ask for age verification identification when presented with an alcohol sale
23. No super-strength beer, lagers, ciders or spirit mixtures of 5.5% ABV (alcohol by volume) or above shall be sold at the premises, except for premium beers and ciders supplied in glass bottles
24. No more than 15% of the sales area shall be used at any one time for the sale, exposure for sale, or display of alcohol
25. Outside of the hours authorised for the sale of alcohol and whilst the premises are open to the public, the licence holder shall ensure that all alcohol within the premises (including alcohol behind the counter) is secured in a locked store room or behind locked grilles, locked screens or locked cabinet doors so as to prevent access to the alcohol by both customers and staff
26. There shall be no self-service of spirits on the premises, save for spirit mixtures less than 5.5% ABV
27. A Challenge 25 proof of age scheme shall be operated at the premises where the only acceptable forms of identification are recognised photographic identification cards, such as a driving licence, passport or proof of age card with the PASS Hologram
28. Prominent signage indicating the permitted hours for the sale of alcohol shall be displayed so as to be visible before entering the premises, where alcohol is on public display, and at the point of sale
29. The number of persons permitted in the premises at any one time (excluding staff) shall not exceed 12 persons
30. No noise generated on the premises, or by its associated plant or equipment, shall emanate from the premises nor vibration be transmitted through the structure of the premises which gives rise to a nuisance.
31. Notices shall be prominently displayed at all exits requesting patrons to respect the needs of local residents and businesses and leave the area quietly
32. All waste shall be properly presented and placed out for collection no earlier than 30 minutes before the scheduled collection times
33. No waste or recyclable materials, including bottles, shall be moved, removed from or placed in outside areas between 23.00 hours and 08.00 hours on the following day
34. No collections of waste or recycling materials (including bottles) from the premises shall take place between 23.00 hours and 07.00 hours on the following day.
35. No deliveries except for newspapers and magazines to the premises shall take place between 23.00 hours and 08.00 hours on the following day
36. During the hours of operation of the premises, the licence holder shall ensure sufficient measures are in place to remove and prevent litter or waste arising or accumulating from customers in the area immediately outside the premises, and that this area shall be swept and or washed, and litter and sweepings collected and stored in accordance with the approved refuse storage arrangements by close of business
37. No fumes, steam or odours shall be emitted from the licensed premises so as to cause a nuisance to any persons living or carrying on business in the area where the premises are situated
38. No licensable activities shall take place at the premises until the premises have been assessed as satisfactory by the Environmental Health Consultation Team and at which time this condition has shall be removed from the Licence by the Licensing Authority.
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Supporting documents:
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