Agenda and minutes

The Panel is requested to elect a Chairman for the hearing in line with rules agreed by the Licensing and Safety Committee. 

Councillor Fearn was elected Chairman for this meeting.

There were none.

To agree that the Chairman, after consultation with the other members of the Panel, sign the record of this meeting outside the meeting. 

It was agreed that the Chairman, after consultation with the other members of the Panel, would sign the record of this meeting outside the meeting. 

There were none. 

Members are invited to disclose any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Significant Interests in accordance with the Member Code of Conduct.  Guidance on this is set out in agenda item 5.

Disclosable pecuniary interests

There were none.

Other significant interests (OSIs)

There were none.

Other interests

There were none.

The applicant has applied for a new Premises Licence in respect of Baba Food Centre, 63-65 High Street, Gillingham, Kent ME7 1BJ.  

All responsible authorities have been consulted in line with the Licensing Act.

Representations have been received from the Police and Public Health.

Discussion:

The Chairman advised that the Applicant had been unable to attend the hearing. The Panel agreed to defer the hearing to a later date and the meeting was adjourned.

When the meeting was reconvened on 2 March 2022, the Chairman explained the process that the hearing would follow the “Guidelines for Licensing Hearing Panels”, as outlined on page 4 of the agenda.

The Licensing Officer stated that, in accordance with the Licensing Act 2003, the Council had received an application in respect of Baba Food Centre, 63 – 65 High Street, Gillingham, Kent, ME7 1BJ to supply alcohol (off the premises) from 05:30 to 22:00 Monday to Sunday.

The Licensing Officer confirmed that the application had been correctly advertised in the local press and notices had been displayed at the premises for the required timescales. The application had been referred to the Licensing Hearing Panel for determination because the Council had received relevant representations relating to all four licensing objectives from the Police and Public Health whereby no agreement had been reached.  She further advised that the premises fell within a Cumulative Impact Policy (CIP) area. When the CIP was applied, and there were relevant representations, there was a rebuttable presumption of refusal by the Authority in all but exceptional circumstances, unless the applicant could demonstrate the premises would not adversely affect the licensing objectives.

Then the Chairman invited the Applicant to speak in support of their application.

Mr Dave Tutt, the Applicant’s agent, explained that the Applicant, Mr Alaittin Temur was already running a similar establishment at 73, Gillingham High Street called Baba Food and Wine. He said the Applicant was an experienced manager who had built up his management capacity having operated convenience stores for many years. Initially, the Applicant planned to use the premises as a storage space for alcohol. Sale of alcohol was not part of the current application until early December 2021 when the Applicant became aware of customers’ demand for Turkish and Swedish alcoholic beverages. Mr Tutt pointed out that although the premises fell within a CIP area, granting the licence would not impact the area adversely because Baba Food Centre was not a pub but a convenience shop retailing mainly groceries.

Mr Tutt informed the Panel of the proposed modifications to their application:

a.         the hours of supplying alcohol would be changed from 05:30 – 22:00 to 09:00 – 21:00;

b.         all staff engaged in the sale of alcohol would be involved in the induction and refreshers’ trainings at 6-month intervals, with training records kept available for the inspection of the Police and authorised officers.  All cashiers would be trained to register for the refusal book with full details including the brands of alcohol and reasons of refusal;

c.         specific policies would be designed in relation to business operation;

d.         except for a small quantity of pre-mixed spirit and soft drinks, there would be no self-service of pure spirit which would be kept behind the counter;

e.         single bottle or can of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 652f

It is recommended that the Panel exclude the press and public from the meeting during the decision-making process for the reasons set out in the report. 

Decision:

The press and public were excluded from the meeting during the Panel’s deliberations and decision making in respect of agenda item 6, because consideration of this matter in public would disclosure information falling within paragraph 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, as specified in agenda item 7 (Exclusion of the Press and Public) and, in all the circumstances of the case, the Panel considered that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.