Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meetings of the Licensing Committee held on 23 and 24 May 2018 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

Councillor Millbank declared the fact that she is ward councillor for Phase One Lounge but does not have any pecuniary interest in the premises.

3.1      The Vice - Chair welcomed all parties to the meeting and introductions were made. He then invited Ms Spall to introduce the application.

            Licensing Officer   

3.2      Ms Spall said that members were being asked to consider an application for a review of a premises licence for Phase One Lounge 136 New Cross Road SE14 5BA. The review had been sought by Mr Power, Crime, Enforcement and Regulation (CER) officer in relation to the licensing objective of crime and disorder and public nuisance. The application was being supported by P.C Gerry. She outlined the current licensed hours for the sale of alcohol, regulated entertainment, late night refreshment and seasonable variation for bank holidays.

            Applicant

3.3      Mr Power introduced himself. He said that the CER service were seeking a review of the premises licence in relation to Phase 1 Lounge as a consequence of the premises routinely failing to safeguard key licensing objectives, most notably the prevention of Crime and Disorder and the Prevention of Public Nuisance. 

3.4      Mr Power said that the premises is located within an existing cumulative impact zone (CIZ). The very existence of the CIZ is to address the cumulative effect a high concentration of licence premises within a small geographical area has had on the licensing objectives. With this in mind, new and existing licences within a CIZ are expected to exhaust all possible measures to ensure the existence of the premise does not contribute, in anyway, to reports of crime and disorder or nuisance.

3.5      Whilst the application seems to outline incidents noted after a previous review application made by P.C Gerry on 2 March 2017, evidence located at DP/1 on page 20 of the agenda and DP/2 highlights confirmation of an initial complaint of noise nuisance initially reported to the CER service in October 2016. Mr Ojo is the premises licence holder as a consequence of a transfer of the premises licence following a complaint of noise nuisance of patrons congregating towards the rear garden of the premises. Evidence at DP/3 and DP/4 shows the letter where Mr Ojo was informed of potential breach of Annex 3 condition 9, in relation to the use of outside areas. A follow up call from Mr Ojo, provided the CER service with an opportunity to reiterate that despite an exemption in relating to live and recorded music afforded by the premises have alcohol ‘on sales’, the provision of recorded music outside of 08:00 and 23:00 requires a variation to the licence. Continuing to provide recorded music after 23:00 is an offence via section 136 of the Licensing Act 2003 in relation to unauthorised licensable activity.

3.6      Evidence at DP/4 exhibits a counter allegation from Mr Ojo. It suggests that music was in fact the result of a neighbouring property recently opened facilitating private parties. This resulted in the CER service investing in multiple hours investigating Mr Ojo’s allegation, which to date remains unfounded.

3.7      Further complaints were received in relation to noise nuisance as exhibited at  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.