Agenda and minutes

The Chair introduced the Members of the Sub Committee and welcomed everyone to the hearing.

The Senior Licensing Officer outlined the purpose of the hearing for the Temporary Event Notice for the Welcome/ Motown, 1-5 Upper Harding Street Northampton. The applicant was Mary Simpson and the event was a graduation party from 12 noon on 20^th July to 3.00am on 22^nd July 2012. It was stated that it was unclear from the application as to whether the event would be continuous throughout that time period.

At the time the applicant was the Designated Premises Supervisor, but notification had since been received that she had been removed from that position.

The Senior Licensing Officer informed the Committee that objection notices had been received from the Police who were supported by the Fire Service.

It was noted that the applicant was informed of the objection and that she had been given the opportunity to attend the hearing but was not present. The applicant had been notified by telephone that there would be a need for a hearing and had also been sent papers on 12^th and 13^th July 2012 by first class mail. The applicant would therefore not be able to respond to any questions from either the Sub Committee or the objectors.

The Sub Committee were satisfied that there had been good service and were happy for the hearing to proceed.

 Application for a Temporary Event Notice

There being no applicant, or representative, in attendance there was no further presentation of the application and no opportunities to ask questions of the applicant.

Representations by the Objectors

 Mr Ian Grieves, of the Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service tabled a copy of a statement made in relation to the premises. The summary of which was as follows:-

Mr Grieves had visited the premises with a colleague, on 7^th September 2011 where he met Mr Malik Said and asked for a demonstration that the fire alarm was regularly tested. Mr Malik Said was unable to provide that evidence. Following on from that there was a further meeting on the following day. At that meeting it was confirmed that the premises were on lease from the Wellington Pub Company to Mr Malik Said and Mary Simpson. Information was provided on making the premises safe from fire.

On 3 January 2012 a further meeting took place with Mr Malik Said. This related to the lack of fire safety precautions at the premises. There was no fire risk assessment, emergency plan, fire alarm testing records, emergency lighting testing records or staff training records. On 11 January 2012 the enforcement notice was served personally and the deficiencies and rights of appeal.

On 26 January 2012 a further meeting took place concerning the first and second floors of the premises, not relating to the licensed part the premises.

On 16 May 2012 a visit was made to check whether the enforcement notice issued in January had been complied with. At this meeting there  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1.