Agenda, decisions and minutes

Agreed.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the hearing of Licensing Committee held on 12 December 2024 be confirmed and signed.

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Councillor Atkinson declared  that she was a Deptford ward member.

Councillor Atkinson declared that she was ward member for Deptford, the ward in which Sip City was located.

1. Sip City Ltd (“the Applicant”) applied for a new Premises Licence on 14th December 2024 for Sip City, 189 Deptford High Street, Deptford London SE8 3NT (“the Premises”).

 2. The application was made by the Director of the company and advertised in accordance with Reg. 25 of the Licensing Act 2003 (Premises licences and club premises certificates) Regulations 2005. The ‘blue notice’ at the Premises did not initially include the Seasonal Variation and so the last date for representations was extended to 5th January 2025. The Sip City currently operates under a premises licence, including for the sale of alcohol for consumption on the premises from 11:00 to 23:00 hours.

 The particulars proposed for the new licence were:

 Sale of Alcohol for consumption on and off the premises:

11:00 – 00:00 Sunday – Wednesday

11:00 – 01:00 Thursday – Saturday

 Late Night Refreshment:

23:00 – 00:00 Sunday – Wednesday

23:00 – 01:00 Thursday – Saturday

 Regulated Entertainment - Recorded Music/Films/anything of a similar description to Live Music, Recorded Music or Performances of dance:

 11:00 – 00:00 Sunday – Wednesday

11:00 – 01:00 Thursday – Saturday

Opening hours: 30 minutes after the end of licensable activities to allow for orderly closure of premises.

Seasonal Variation: Applying to all the above activities:

New Years Eve to be extended to 03.00 New Years Day.

On any Sunday where the Monday is a bank holiday the hours are extended to 01.00 on the Monday Morning.

 3. No representations were received from the Local Authority or the Police, but a series of proposed conditions had been added to the application with their approval. Written representations were received from 10 members of the public. 4 were in support of the application and 6 were raising objections on promotion of the four licensing objectives.

4. The Licensing Committee held a hearing on 28th of January 2025 to consider the Application. 4 of the 6 local residents who had raised objections to the grant of the licence attended to speak to their written representations. None of the 4 persons who had made representations in support attended the meeting. The applicant was represented by the agency Complete Licensing, and James Hoffelner attended along with Dave Nevitt, environmental health and safety consultant. Felicity Sobers also attended and spoke on behalf of the Applicant company.

5. In making its decision the Committee has considered all the papers contained in the report pack and submitted documents, together with the oral submissions and evidence presented on behalf of the Applicant and the Residents at the hearing. The committee also considered the Council’s own Statement of Licensing Policy 2020-25 and the latest Home Office Statutory Guidance, revised in December 2023.

 6. The Committee’s decision is to grant the application in the terms submitted. Its reasons for doing so are as follows:

a. The Committee noted the incidents of anti-social behaviour, noise and public nuisance reported by residents, along with management failures, including to deal properly with reports and complaints. Some of the incidents  ...  view the full decision text for item 3.

3.1     Before inviting the relevant officer to introduce the report, the Chair said that she had been informed that in the run up to this hearing, parties had made allegations against the conduct of the other side. She asked all parties, in the limited time they had to make their submissions, to restrict themselves to addressing the licensing issues which would provide the greatest assistance to the members in arriving at their decision.   

3.2     The Chair welcomed all parties to the Licensing Committee. She introduced those present and outlined the procedure to be followed for the hearing. She then invited the Safer Communities Officer to introduce the application.

          Introduction

 3.3     The Safer Communities Officer said this hearing was being held to determine the granting of a new premises licence application made by Sip City Ltd in relation to the premises at 189 Deptford High Street SE8 3NT. The application was received on 4 December 2024 and processed the same day. The application had been advertised in accordance with regulations. The last day for receipt of representations was 5 January 2025.

3.4     During the consultation period, the Licensing Authority received four emails in support of the application and six against and were not considered vexatious or frivolous.

3.5     The Safer Communities Officer then outlined the options open to members when making their decision.

           Applicant

3.6     The Chair agreed that Mr Sutherland’s could speak for 5 minutes. Mr Nevitt and Ms Sobers-Onipede could address the hearing briefly.

3.7     Ms Sobers-Onipede advised those present that they had been a family run business since January 2023. They wanted to have more events for the community. They had held events for children, and on Christmas day they funded hot food meals for the homeless.

3.8     The extension was required to support the community and operate as a responsible member of the community. Under the current licensing hours patrons ordering food at 9pm are rushed when eating their meal and other order a takeaway because the opening hours are so restricted. She wanted her application for an extension to the licensing hours at the weekend to be granted.

3.9     Mr Nevitt referred to the objections made by objectors and identified two areas associated with noise. The first was noise break out due to recorded music particularly from the lounge at the rear of the premises; flats were within 30 yards of the premises. Secondly the departure and dispersal of patrons at the end of the evening at the front of the premises.

3.10    In a report circulated to all parties, Mr Nevitt had made some recommendations to address the issue of noise escape relating to acoustic treatment, the control of noise with noise limiters and keeping doors shut.

3.11    A noise management strategy had been produced to ensure residents did not experience noise nuisance during dispersal of patrons at the front of the premises. Practical measures to address this issue had been identified in the report, including what a resident should do if  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.