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, which was to remove the “restaurant only” condition on the premises, to extend the hours the premises are open to the public to 4.00am Mondays-Saturdays and 2.00am on Sundays (with the supply of alcohol, late night refreshments and provision of facilities finishing one hour prior to that on each evening) and to increase the number of types of entertainment provided both indoors and outdoors at the premises.  The applicant had applied for the Variation to the Premises Licence on 21^st June 2012.

The hearing had originally been scheduled to be heard on 13^th August 2012 but the applicant’s wife had been taken to hospital and in the extenuating circumstances the hearing had been deferred until 24^th August 2012.

The Sub-Committee were informed that an objection to the requested variation to the Licensing activities had been received from Mr P Mallard, Senior Environmental Health Officer representing Northampton Borough Council.  The Police had stated that, although they had received notice of the original hearing which had been deferred on 13^th August 2012, they had not received notice of this appeal.  The applicant had, however, been in regular email contact with the Police about the application.  The Police had indicated that had they been aware of the hearing today they would not have raised any objection, subject to the applicant installing CCTV inside and outside 60 Bridge Street, keeping recordings for 28 days and being willing to supply recordings to the Police if required. 

Application for Variation to a Premises License

The applicant, Mr Kooner, apologised for the necessity for the earlier hearing to have been deferred due to his wife having been taken into hospital.

Mr Kooner explained that he wished to add value to Northampton town centre by providing a venue with a responsible environment where people could spend an enjoyable evening.  He operated another venue in Northampton, Sazerac, where he had achieved this objective and wished to do the same in Bridge Street, which was currently a location that many people stayed away from in the evening.  60 Bridge Street had been closed for several years and Mr Kooner did not believe that a restaurant could operate successfully in that area due to the noise, hustle and bustle of Bridge Street.  He believed that a bar could operate in the premises if it was operated responsibly.

Mr Kooner stated that he wanted to operate 60 Bridge Street in an exemplary way, co-operating with the Police and responsible authorities, which would lead operators of other bars in the area to “up their game” to match him.  He was happy to compromise on items in his application if required and to comply with the request of the Police (mentioned above) regarding installing CCTV at his premises.

Mr Kooner was currently in discussions with the Council’s Conservation Officer regarding the requirements of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1.