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, a request for an increase in licensable hours with a 24 opening hour licence on the premises. The applicant had applied for the Variation to the Premises Licence on 31^st August 2012.

The Sub-Committee were informed that an objection to the requested variation to the Licensing activities had been received from Mr N Polden, Senior Environmental Health Officer representing Northampton Borough Council (represented at the meeting by Mr P Mallard, Senior Environmental Health Officer, NBC).  There were also 12 letters of objection to the application from residents living above the premises on the grounds that the licensing objectives were not being met.

Application for Variation to a Premises License

The applicant, Mr Stevens, explained that he wished to open a small, local restaurant with a bar for patrons after they had eaten, similar to those provided in Barcelona and Berlin.  It was not his intention to open a bar or nightclub.  Meals and drinks would be priced for a specific clientele.  There would be no music, other than background music at a limited level, and no bar area or stand up drinking.  The numbers using the restaurant in the basement would be 65, including a maximum of 12 persons on the ground floor.  Application had been made to remove the present restaurant only condition on the premises as this was a pre-Licensing Act 2005 condition and prevented the sale of alcohol other than with meals.  The applicant wished to sell alcoholic drinks to diners after they had finished their meals.

The application was for 24 hour opening as the applicant stated that an anomaly in the Licensing Act meant that he would potentially be in breach of the licence when opening the premises for cleaning and non-licensed activities unless a 24 hour licence was granted.

Questions to the Applicant

In response to questions asked by the representors and the Sub-Committee Mr Stevens stated that he anticipated the clientele of the premises would largely be couples.  Tables would be for groups of 4-6 people, 8 at the maximum, and not large parties.  The applicant operated another premises in the town centre, which had a mixed age range power.  There had been no problems with these premises and the applicant was a seasoned operator and did not anticipate any problems at this venue.

The applicant proposed to use crystal glasses at the premises.  It was noted that this was permissible as the premises were not a bar/night club and there was no requirement to use polycarbonate glasses.

The applicant stated that he had not applied for a licence to have outdoor music.  This was an error on the application form.  This was confirmed by the Senior Licensing Officer.

The applicant stated that he had no intention to seek an extension to the licence, if  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1.