Agenda and minutes

NOTED

1.    The Chair welcomed all those present and explained the order of the meeting.

2.    There were no apologies for absence.

3.    As this was his final meeting as Chair of Licensing Committee, Councillor Levy wished to record his thanks to all the councillors and all the officers who had supported him throughout his time as Chair.

Members are asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary, other pecuniary or non pecuniary interests relating to items on the agenda.

NOTED that there were no declarations of interest in respect of items on the agenda.

Application for a new premises licence.

RECEIVED the application made by Star Pubs & Bars Limited for the premises known as and situated at The Winchmore, 235 Winchmore Hill Road, London, N21 1QA for a new Premises Licence.

NOTED

1.         The introductory statement of Ellie Green, Principal Licensing Officer, including the following points:

a.  This was an application for a new premises licence by Star Pubs & Bars Limited.

b.  There was already a licence at this premises covering the same hours and activities as applied for. Therefore the premises would still have a valid licence in place in any event.

c.  This premises licence had not been subject to review under the current premises licence holder.

d.  It would have been acceptable to make an application to vary rather than a new application.

e.  The original application had sought an extension of hours for the sale of alcohol and opening hours. However, the applicant had agreed to make amendments, and now sought alcohol sales to 23:00 daily and the premises to close at 23:30.

f.  Recent changes to the Licensing Act 2003 were highlighted in respect of regulated entertainment.

g.  Representations from the Licensing Authority and the Metropolitan Police had been withdrawn.

h.  Representations had been received from 55 local residents, mainly in objection to the hours sought in the original application. 44 of these representations had been withdrawn, leaving 11 representations against this application from residents at 11 separate addresses in the vicinity of the premises. Since the LSC report was published, there were now only two valid representations; from IP1 (letter on page 34) and from IP31 (letter on page 43). Those two residents were not in attendance today, but full consideration should still be given to their representations.

2.         Questions were invited on the introductory statement:

a.  Councillor Simon raised that Licensing Sub-Committee had considered a previous review of the premises licence and the hours now applied for were in line with the judgement made on that occasion. Ellie Green confirmed that was the case, but that the review was under a different premises licence holder.

            b.  In response to the Chair’s queries about whether she had had conversations with the two interested parties, Ellie Green confirmed that letters had been sent to the interested parties to inform them of the up to date position. IP1 had been spoken with on the phone: she was not sure he had completely understood the process, but he was happy to have his representation still considered. IP31 had not responded to any emails nor made contact.

c.  The Chair queried whether interested parties acknowledged that this was a different applicant and not The Willow and the venue would be operated in a different way. Ellie Green could only comment on IP1, who did appreciate this was a different premises licence holder.

3.         The statement of Ms Karen Cochrane, solicitor, on behalf of the applicant, including the following points:

a.  She was accompanied by the applicant, Mr Mark Walsh.

b.  An application for a new premises licence had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 545.

Application to review a premises licence.

RECEIVED the application made by the Licensing Authority for a review of the Premises Licence held by Mr Suleyman Erdogan at the premises known as and situated at Hertford Food Centre, 236 Hertford Road, Enfield, EN3 5BL.

NOTED

1.         The introductory statement of Ellie Green, Principal Licensing Officer, including the following points:

a.  This was an application to review a premises licence, made by the Licensing Authority and related to the prevention of crime and disorder licensing objective.

b.  There had been two occasions when non-duty paid alcohol and tobacco were found on the premises over the last 14 months.

c.  A former premises licence was revoked in July 2011 following a review application, relating to the sale of non-duty paid alcohol, submitted by Trading Standards.

d.  A new premises licence was issued in September 2011 naming the premises licence holder as Mr Suleyman Erdogan. It had now been found that Mr Erdogan was a business partner of the former licence holder, Mr Sefer Govtepe.

e.  The Licensing Authority were asking for a revocation of the premises licence.

f.  The Licensing Authority’s application was supported by the Metropolitan Police.

g.  If the Licensing Sub-Committee were not minded to revoke the licence, the Licensing Authority had proposed a number of additional conditions to form part of the premises licence. Those conditions had now been agreed by the premises licence holder.

h.  Mr Suleyman Erdogan was present at this meeting, represented by Mr Duncan Craig from Citadel Chambers.

2.         The opening statement of Charlotte Palmer, Licensing Enforcement Officer, including the following points:

a.  This application to review the premises licence was made following the discovery that the premises had been found to be selling non-duty paid alcohol and cigarettes.

b.  The Government consider that activities including the sale of smuggled tobacco and alcohol should be treated particularly seriously, and that it is expected that revocation of the licence – even in the first instance – should be seriously considered.

c.  At a Trading Standards and HMRC joint visit on 12/03/14, officers seized 73 bottles of alcohol with counterfeit back labels. A warning letter was issued advising that “should similar matters be brought to our attention again, it is unlikely that we shall adopt such a lenient approach”.

d.  Non-duty paid tobacco was found on the premises on 15/08/14 by Licensing Enforcement officers.

e.  A multi-agency operation in June 2014 did not find non-duty paid items. However, following further allegations, on 24/02/15 a visit with a tobacco-detecting dog found non-duty paid tobacco concealed in a set of drawers. There was a false bottom to the drawers. This strongly suggested that operators knew the items were illegal. At a meeting involving all parties held on 03/03/15, Mr Govtepe commented that it was because “everything was so expensive”. He also commented that three non-duty paid bottles of vodka seized were a gift; this breached Condition 19 of the licence.

f.  There were already a number of conditions on the licence designed to prevent this  ...  view the full minutes text for item 546.

To receive and agree the minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 15 April 2015.

RECEIVED the minutes of the meeting held on 15 April 2015.

AGREED that the minutes of the meeting held on 15 April 2015 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.