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 vary the licensing hours from 10.00am to 11.00pm Monday to Saturday to 10.00am to 12 midnight Monday to Saturday, to amend the licence to include off sales and to extend the licensable activities to include the basement part of the premises.  The application for the variation had been received on 22 November 2012.

The Sub-Committee were informed that an objection to the requested variation had been received from Mr Gordon Noble on behalf of DGS Developments on 23 November 2012.  The objection was on the grounds of the prevention of public nuisance.

No objections had been received from either the Police, Fire Authority or Environmental Health with regard to the application.  No complaints had been received by the Licensing Department with regard to conduct inside or outside the premises since the licence was issued in November 2011.

Application for Variation to a Premises License

The applicant, Mr Hepworth, explained that the premises were used to provide mediaeval food, which was cooked fresh, and for the sale of real ale.  Lager and alcopops were not sold at the premises as he wished to attract a different type of clientele.  The majority of the clientele were people over the age of fifty.  There had not been any incidents on the premises and no complaints had been received by him regarding activities in the premises.  An objector to the original licensing application was now supporting the application to vary the licence.  Creating the public house had transformed an unsightly building.

The premises were often used as a meeting place for members of the local community.

Mr Hepworth stated that the basement had been derelict for fifty years but had now been turned into an area which could seat 24 customers and provided more flexibility if a large party was dining on the ground floor of the premises.

A smoking deposit box had been provided outside the premises.  Approximately 5% of the clientele smoked and they were managed and the smoking area and the outside of the premises was regularly swept.

The applicant had applied for an extra hour for licensable activities as people now tended to start their evening activities later than they had in the past.

Questions to the Applicant

In response to questions asked by the representor and the Sub-Committee Mr Hepworth stated that:

• The basement did not currently have planning consent.  A planning application had been due to be considered by the Planning Committee in December 2012 but had been postponed until mid January 2013 as the landlord of some of the neighbouring properties had not been notified of the application by the Planning Authority.
• The numbers of customers allowed on each floor of the premises was 24 (first floor), 22 (ground floor) and 24 (basement).  The Fire Officer was satisfied with the fire safety arrangements and had not made any representations.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1.