Agenda item

Maestro - 44 - 45 Deptford Broadway SE8 4PH

Lewisham LBC, Licensing Committee

Application for variation of premises licence

31 October 2023

 

DECISION NOTICE

 

1.      Louis Armand Tchanagoum Tchatchouang (“the Applicant”) has submitted an application for a variation to the premises licence for Maestro - 44 - 45 Deptford Broadway SE8 4PH (“the Premises”).

 

2.      The application seeks authorisation for the following licensable activities:

·         Amendment to Annex 3 Conditions

·         Vary Hours for Live Music, Recorded Music & Alcohol sales ON the premises.

·         To add Alcohol for the consumption OFF the premises to match current alcohol for the consumption ON the premises hours and proposed extended hours.

·         To change the licence opening hours to 30 minutes after the last licensable activity

 

Remove Annex 3 conditions:

2.         There will be no live music or the playing of recorded music between the hours of 23:00 and 07:59.

6.         Two SIA registered door staff, one of whom ought to be female (if labour is available) and must be independent of and in addition to the Maestro staff working that day, to be on duty while the premises is open to the public between 21:00 till close and until all customers have left the premises and vicinity.

7.         A ‘no search, no entry’ policy will also operate at these times. All persons entering and re-entering the premises will be searched. If they refuse, they will not be able to enter the premises.

8.         At the commencement of work, security personnel must ensure that they are recorded on the CCTV system and that a clear head and shoulders image showing their face clear of any hat, glasses or other obstruction is recorded.

9.         A register of security personnel employed on the premises shall be maintained in a legible format and made available to Police or local authority officers on request. The register should be completed by the DPS/Duty Manager at the commencement of work by each member of security staff and details recorded should include:

 

Full name

Badge number

Time of commencement of duties

Security operative to sign their name against their details

 

To add the following:

 

Live Music (Indoors)

23:00 – 01:00 Friday – Sunday

 

Recorded Music (Indoors)

23:00 – 01:00 Monday - Thursday

23:00 – 03:00 Friday & Saturday

23:00 – 02:00 Sunday

 

Late night Refreshment

00:00 – 01:00 Monday - Thursday

00:00 – 03:00 Friday & Saturday

00:00 – 02:00 Sunday

 

Alcohol for consumption ON & Off the premises

23:30 – 01:00 Monday - Thursday

01:30 – 03:00 Friday & Saturday

23:30 – 02:00 Sunday

 

3.      There were three representations in response to the application from local residents, in addition there was one representation from a Responsible Authority all received before the deadline.

 

4.      The Licensing Committee held a hearing on 31 October 2023 to consider the representations, all of which related to the licensing objective; prevention of public nuisance.

 

 

The Licensing Authority

 

5.      The Licensing Authority introduced Application, they explained that there were objections from three local residents and one from the Licensing Authority as a Responsible Authority.

 

The Applicant

6.      The Applicants representative set out the agreed amendment offered by the Licensing Authority relating to the SIA door supervision requirements in addition to further conditions that the Applicant had agreed.

 

7.      The Applicant expressed that they were willing to agree to reduced hours from the Application in relation to Live Music but wished to retain the extended hours for Recorded Music.

 

8.      The Applicant explained that there has been no complaints or objections from Environmental Health or the Police as Responsible Authorities and that the expectation is that the Police would be the main source of advice on crime and disorder.

 

9.      They maintained that there was a working noise limiter in operation which would promote the licensing objectives.  The Applicant is satisfied that if noise limiter set and calibrated, this would adequately address issues around breakout of sound.

 

 

10.It is unclear of the proximity of the local resident objections. Given the operational noise limiter, if properly managed, there will be no breakout of noise.

 

11.It was accepted that whilst there has been a recent noise complaint, this is quite common following an Application and encouraged the Committee to attach appropriate weight.

 

12.The Applicant accepted that he had a ‘private party’ in August and his representative has given advice given that it shouldn’t happen again. It was submitted that this was a unique and isolated occasion and encouraged the Committee to give applicant the benefit of the doubt.

 

13.The Committee were told that that the Applicant is working with Local Authority and have been cooperative with requests.

 

The Licensing Authority

 

14. The Licensing Authority have agreed to amend one of the conditions to change the SIA condition as we understand that this has a significant impact on the Applicants finances.

 

15.The Licensing Authority are concerned that extended hours would lead to complaints.

 

16.The LA confirmed that when they requested the CCTV relating to the incident in August, this was promptly provided. The CCTV provided confirmed that a breach of the Licence occured during the consultation period.

 

17.It was said that the breach was relatively serious particularly during the consultation period where the Applicant would be under extra scrutiny.

 

18.The Licencing Authority confirmed that they were able to investigate the reported noise complaints and witnessed that the noise nuisance complained of was not from this Premises.

 

19.In making its decision, the Committee has taken into account all of the papers in the reports pack and the evidence and submissions presented by the parties at the hearing.  It has also taken into account the Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy and the Home Office’s statutory guidance.

 

20.The Committee’s decision is to GRANT the variation IN PART subject to conditions modified to such extent as the authority considers appropriate for the promotion of the licensing objectives.

To ADD the following:

 

Live Music (Indoors)

23:00 – 00:00 Friday – Sunday

 

Recorded Music (Indoors)

23:00 – 00:00 Sunday - Thursday

23:00 – 00:00 Friday & Saturday

 

Alcohol for consumption ON & Off the premises

10:00 – 23:30 Sunday - Thursday

10:00 – 01:30 Friday & Saturday

 

To AMEND the following condition;

 

·         There will be no live music or the playing of recorded music between the hours of 00:00 and 07:59.

 

21.The variations below were agreed by the Parties and the Committee were satisfied that adopting them would be appropriate for the promotion of the licensing objectives.

 

 

To REMOVE the following condition;

 

·         Two SIA registered door staff, one of whom ought to be female (if labour is available) and must be independent of and in addition to the Maestro staff working that day, to be on duty while the premises is open to the public between 21:00 till close and until all customers have left the premises and vicinity.

 

To ADD the following conditions;

·         One SIA registered door staff who is independent of and in addition to the Maestro staff working that day, to be on duty while the premises is open to the public on Friday and Saturday nights as well as any day preceding a bank holiday, between 22:00 and close of business, and until all customers have left the premises and vicinity. When there are more than 50 customers on the premises, there will be two SIA registered door staff on duty. 1 SIA registered staff member will be outside the premises during these times.

·         A proof of age scheme, such as Challenge 25, must be operated at the premises where the only acceptable forms of identification are (recognized photographic identification cards, such as a driving license or passport / Holographical marked PASS scheme identification cards) appropriate signage must be displayed (to replace Annex 2, condition 5).

·         All windows and doors must be kept shut whilst entertainment is in progress except for the immediate entrance/egress of patrons (to replace Annex 2, Condition 6).

·         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.

·         Loudspeakers shall not be in the entrance lobby or outside the premises building.

·         A direct telephone number for the manager at the premises shall be publicly available at all times the premises is open. This telephone number is to be made available to residents and businesses in the vicinity.

·         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.

·         The premises licence holder shall ensure that any patrons smoking outside the premises do so in an orderly manner and are supervised by staff to ensure that there is no public nuisance or obstruction of the public highway.

·         The premises Licence Holder and/or Designated Premises Supervisor shall keep up to date policies and staff training records in relation to the following: Requirements of the challenge 25 scheme, drugs, identification & recognition of drunks, identification recognition and responsibilities of dealing with vulnerable persons and the correct procedures to be followed when refusing service regular training must be provided to all staff at least every six months, a record of the training will be maintained for at least twelve months.

 

The Committee’s decision is to grant the variation IN PART subject to conditions modified. Its reasons are as follows:

                    i.            The committee were not satisfied with the reasons given for the recent breach of the licence conditions which occurred as recently as during the consultation period.

                  ii.            The Committee accepted that the breach was mitigated by the candidness and cooperation of the Applicant with the Licensing Authority following the breach.

                iii.            The Committee noted that the Applicant provided the CCTV relating to the date of the breach upon request.

                iv.            They were satisfied that the breach was significant enough to have reservations about the Premises Licence Holders ability to uphold the licence conditions should the full variation be granted.

                  v.            The Committee were not satisfied that the Application itself at Part M or the representations made at the hearing offered sufficient steps on how they would promote the licensing objectives.

                vi.            The committee are required to consider the application and apply the Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy 20-25 unless there is good reason to depart from it. The Applicant was unable to demonstrate why it wanted the Licensing Committee to disapply the Policy or depart from it.

              vii.            It considered the Licensing Authority’s preferred operating hours as set out at 15.7. It identified that the Premises was located within a Local Hub, as such it applied the ‘Preferred latest end time’ for Recorded and Live music.

            viii.            The Committee provided extensions for music both live and recorded having due regard to the Policy.

                ix.            The Committee were concerned that if it were to grant the variation as applied for, it would undermine the Licensing Objectives.

22.There is a right of appeal against this decision.  Any appeal should be made to the magistrates’ court within 21 days beginning with the day on which the appellant was notified of this decision.