Issue - decisions

APPLICATION TO VARY A PREMISES LICENCE - FETE LOUNGE 6 Station Road, Upminster, RM14 2UB

07/01/2019 - APPLICATION TO VARY A PREMISES LICENCE - FETE LOUNGE 6 Station Road, Upminster, RM14 2UB

Licensing Act 2003

Notice of Decision

 

PREMISES:

Fete Lounge

6 Station Road

Upminster

 RM14 2UB

 

DETAILS OF APPLICATION

 

The application for a variation to a premises licence was made by Fete Lounge Limited under section 34 of the Licensing Act 2003.  The application was received by Havering’s Licensing Authority on 8 November 2018.

 

 

APPLICANT

Ms Noreen Jafferkhan

Fete Lounge

 

 

 

1.         Details of requested licensable activities

 

Variation applied for:

 

Recorded music, late night refreshment

Day

Start

Finish

Monday to Sunday

23:00

00:00

 

Supply of alcohol (on & off)

Day

Start

Finish

Monday to Sunday

10:00

00:00

 

Hours open to the public

Day

Start

Finish

Monday to Sunday

07:00

00:30

 

Non-standard timings

 

There were a series of non-standard timing requests made which were fully detailed in the application.

 

 

 

 

 

2.            Details of Representations

 

There were three representations against this application made by nearby residents.

 

There were three representations against this application made by responsible authorities.

 

3.            Promotion of the Licensing Objectives

 

The applicant acted in accordance with regulations 25 and 26 of The Licensing Act 2003 (Premises licences and club premises certificates) Regulations 2005 relating to the advertising of the application.  The required public notice was installed in the 16 November 2018 edition of the Havering Yellow Advertiser.

 

4.     Determination of Application

 

 

The Licensing Sub-Committee determined that the application to vary the licence will be granted in part for the reasons set out below.

 

REASONS

 

An officer from the Council's Licensing Team presented the application to vary the licence. This was followed by representations from the Responsible Authorities.

 

The Sub-Committee raised a few questions relating to the CCTV system, namely, what happens when a noise complaint is received, the number of noise complaints received from residents, and the noise limiter device/equipment that was installed.

 

The Sub Committee also heard representations from a local resident who lives above the premises; she described these as a high energy environment in the evenings and detailed the effects of living above the same. The resident informed the committee that the noise that emanated from the premises into her property particularly on nights when a DJ was present as unbearable and intrusive, she also described the general noise from the patrons using the venue, stating she had made a number of complaints in this regard.

 

Members also heard from the applicant’s agent, Mr Hopkins, he addressed the Sub-Committee regarding the rubbish bins, he provided Members with photographs which he said had been taken a day earlier. Mr Hopkins also described the applicants roles in the business as made up of a husband and wife team, and addressed the complaints of noise discussed at the hearing, he said these were just allegations where police action had not been taken, he also stressed that the Metropolitan Police had not made any representations in respect of the application to vary the licence. Mr Hopkins informed members that his clients had tried hard to engage and build a relationship with all the residents without success, he also described an incident involving one of the residents, the resident in attendance at the hearing strongly denied any involvement in such an incident.

 

Mr Hopkins informed the Sub-Committee that the earlier opening hours in the application to vary would allow the applicants to offer customers breakfast which is in line with other business in the area, he then addressed the committee with regards to the outside area of the premises. Finally, Mr Hopkins addressed Members in respect of the incident that took place on 26 October 2018, he said his clients had instructed him as their agent to apply for a TEN for that evening, however he had been unable to do so but had not been able to communicate this to his clients, they assumed the TEN was in place and the event went ahead, he put this situation arising from a miscommunication.

 

The Sub-Committee asked a number of questions relating to the incident on 26 October 2018, the CCTV footage in respect of the same and the reasons for the delay in providing the Responsible Authorities with a copy of the recorded footage. Members also sought an explanation as to why the time on the CCTV recording did not reflect the actual timing of the event.

 

The Sub-Committee also asked the Responsible Authorities further questions in order to clarify how the noise limiter functioned, who set the device, where it was placed and controlled. Members then sought clarification with regards to the legibility of the licence that is displayed in the premises window as the quality of the copy provided in the bundle was poor.

 

The Sub-Committee also heard from one of the applicants, namely Ms Jafferkhan, she described the premises to members including, the type of food served, the type of customers using the premises and the events hosted at the venue .

 

Ms Jafferkhan informed the committee that they have always strived to work alongside the Responsible Authorities to deal with any issues including noise complaints and resolve the same. This included acoustic installation to address the noise complaints, and any other actions necessary on their part in respect of the noise limiter.  Ms Jafferkhan also addressed the committee in respect of the rubbish around the bins, car parking, and the table and chairs in the outside area, she said they have tried to engage with the neighbours on numerous occasions however they have been disappointed in the response.

 

Finally, the Sub-Committee requested further information from the Public Protection Team with regards to their visit to a residents property above the premises, the officer reported that on the evening of his visit he had found the noise level unacceptable,   he said an abatement notice was not served as the applicants had not been in the premises long and it would have been unreasonable to take such action, instead  a noise limiter was installed and appeared to be working for a period but this was short lived, it was unclear why this was.

 

The Sub-Committee must promote the licensing objectives and must have regard to the Revised Guidance issued under s.182 of the Licensing Act 2003 and the Council’s own Statement of Licensing Policy.

 

Upon careful consideration, the Licensing sub- committee are satisfied that extending the opening hours to an earlier time to offer customer’s breakfast would not undermine the licensing objectives .Members have also considered the effect of extending the later hours for the sale of alcohol and the later opening hours proposed in the application, they are concerned  that granting the application to vary the licence in full will cause additional disturbance to neighbours in light of the number of noise complaints already received.

 

Further, the Licensing subcommittee are concerned that due to a lack of communication between the applicants and their agent, an event took place at the premises on 26th October 2018 without the requisite Temporary Event Notice in place, resulting in a breach of the licence and a further complaint. The committee’s concerns are heightened upon hearing the applicant’s failed  to provide the Responsible Authorities with a copy of the CCTV recording for that evening within a reasonable time frame once this had been requested, the committee do not consider the reasons given for the delay as acceptable and are deeply concerned that the situation was exacerbated further upon the investigating officer discovering the clock on the CCTV  equipment had not been adjusted correctly to reflect actual time leaving him unable to verify the exact time the licensable activity ceased, this in turn hindered the investigation.

 

Members are also not satisfied that the applicants have demonstrated they can effectively manage a difficult situation, they consider the applicants to be overly reliant on their agent which they deem to be both impractical and unsatisfactory, particularly in urgent situations where a quicker response is required, the committee are concerned that extending the hours for both the sale of alcohol and the opening hours to the later times will undermine the licensing objectives for the Prevention of Public Nuisance and The Prevention of Crime and Disorder:

 

The Sub-Committee have therefore decided to grant the application to vary the premises licence in part  pursuant to section 35(4) (a) of the Licensing Act 2003 as follows:

 

OPENING HOURS OF THE PREMISES

·         Extend the opening hours to allow the premises to open from 08:00 hours and close at 23:30 hours daily

 

OPENING HOURS – NEW YEARS EVE:

 

·         08:00 am – 01:00 am the following day

 

SALE OF ALCOHOL – ON PREMISES - NEW YEARS EVE:

 

·         New Year’s Eve 11:00 am – 12:30 am

 

EXTERNAL AREAS:

 

The premises licence holder shall take appropriate measures to ensure that patrons using any outside areas do so in a quiet and orderly fashion

 

i)             The outside area directly in front of the premises outlined in red in the  supplied plan shall only be open to customers from 8:00 hours until 21:00 hours each day. Adequate notices shall be displayed in appropriate locations to ensure that this information is brought to the attention of patrons

 

ii)            The tables and chairs in the outside seating area directly in front of the premises outlined in red in the attached plan shall be taken out of use at 21:00 each day and customers asked to go inside.

 

(i)            The premises licence holder shall take appropriate measures to ensure that patrons using the outside area directly in front of the premises outlined in red in the attached plan do so in a quiet and orderly fashion

 

ANNEX 2

 

·         Condition 2 at Annex 2 is amended to 20:00 hours

 

 

Right of Appeal

 

Any party who has made a relevant representation may appeal to the Magistrates’ Court within 21 days of notification of the decision.

 

On appeal, the Magistrates’ Court may:

 

1.         Dismiss the appeal; or

2.         Substitute the decision for another decision which could have been made by the Sub Committee; or

3.         Remit the case to the Sub Committee to dispose of it in accordance with the direction of the Court; and

4.         Make an order for costs as it sees fit.