Agenda item

In accordance with Section 51 of the Licensing Act 2003, the Council has received an application from Kent Police, as a responsible authority, for a review of the existing premises licence in respect of the Command House, Dock Road, Chatham, Kent ME4 4TX.

 

Discussion:

 

The Panel considered an application for a review of a premises licence by Kent Police, in respect of The Command House, Dock Road, Chatham.

 

The Licensing and Local Land Charges Manager advised the meeting that in accordance with Section 51 of the Licensing Act 2003, the Council had received an application from Kent Police for a review of the existing premises licence in respect of the Command House, Dock Road, Chatham.

 

The application had been correctly advertised by way of the display of notices at the premises and on the Council’s website for the required period, in accordance with regulations made under the Licensing Act 2003. Also, in accordance with the legislation, notice of the application (and the application itself) was served on the licence holder and the other responsible authorities.

 

The premises currently operated by way of a premises licence granted in accordance with the Licensing Act 2003, a copy of which was attached at Appendix A on pages 9 to 16 of the main agenda. 

 

A copy of a plan showing the location of the premises was at Appendix B on page 17.

 

A copy of the review application was at Appendix C on pages 19 to 26 with copies of representations received at Appendix D on pages 27 to 32.

 

Supplementary Agendas 1 and 2 also included supplementary information provided by the solicitor on behalf of the Command House and from the Police. 

 

The Panel’s attention was drawn to the grounds for the review in relation to the licensing objective (prevention of crime and disorder and public safety) of the Licensing Act 2003 and also paragraphs 3 and 6 of the committee report –Advice and analysis on determination of an application for review and recommendation.

 

The representatives from Kent Police spoke in support of their application for a review and referred to the fact that while a good relationship had been initially established with the DPS there had been a marked deterioration in the past few months. 

 

Reference was made to a specific event on 29 June 2015 where there was a breach of the premises licence as the venue remained open beyond the agreed opening hours.  Kent Police also witnessed a large number of highly intoxicated people, many of whom where lone females who were extremely vulnerable.  The view of Kent Police was that the irresponsible drinks promotion of £1 drinks all night long offered by the venue would have contributed to this.  There had also been incidents where other events had been advertised showing them to finish later than the licensed hours.

 

A representative from Medway’s Public Health team put forward the concerns of the Director of Public Health as set out in the agenda. 

 

The Panel and Licence Holder and his solicitor put questions relating to the review application.

 

The Licence Holder and his solicitor then put forward their response to the review application.  They explained that the DPS had been covering the Command House plus a second club in Maidstone leaving a manager in charge of the Command House during which a number of events had not been managed appropriately.  They explained that the manager had since been suspended on full pay awaiting a disciplinary hearing.  A full apology for the events was made.  An explanation was given in relation to the advertising for the events in that a third party promoter had been involved.  Once they were aware of the error the DPS had attempted to remove the incorrect notices but a number of fliers had already been handed out.  In relation to the incidents listed in the documentation from the Police the solicitor for the Command House explained that a large number of those incidents were not the fault of the Command House/Mojos and often were referring to incidents where the staff had acted responsibly in dealing with members of the public.

 

The Panel then asked a series of questions following which the Chairman checked if there was anything further to be added.

 

Decision:

 

Events had shown that the conditions for a premises licence for the building held by Mr Dyer had been badly handled for the periods under review.

 

The Panel recognised that the onus for maintaining these conditions were under the control of a separate manager who had since been suspended and was facing disciplinary action.  However, the ultimate responsibility was that of the Designated Premises Supervisor, and the Panel found that 3 of the Licensing Objectives had not been met, namely:

 

1. Prevention of Crime and Disorder

2. Public Safety

3. The prevention of public nuisance

 

The decision was therefore that Mr Dyer should be removed as Designated Premises Supervisor.

 

Understanding that Mr Ennis was now co-director and had a personal licence the Panel wish to impose upon the premises licence the following set of conditions, as set out in pages 65/66 of supplementary agenda no. 1, which they understood had already been agreed between the licence holder and the Police as follows:

 

The Mandatory Conditions continue but the following conditions replace the conditions in Annex 2 being consistent with the operation of a pub restaurant.  Indoor Sporting Events to be removed as an approved entertainment.

 

1.    The operational hours for sale of alcohol Sunday to Saturday will be 10:00 to 24:00 hours.  Regulated Entertainment will only be provided between 10:00 and 23:00.  The Premises will close by 00:30.

 

2.    Following the provision of Section 177 live music and recorded music remain as regulated entertainment between 8am and 11pm

 

3.    CCTV will be provided in the form of a recordable system, capable of providing pictures of evidential quality in all lighting conditions particularly facial recognition.

 

·         Cameras shall encompass all ingress and egress to the premises, fire exits and all areas where the sale and supply of alcohol occurs

 

·         Equipment must be maintained in good working order, be correctly time and date stamped, recordings MUST be kept on the hard drive and kept for a period of 28/31 days and handed to Police upon reasonable request

 

·         The premises licence holder must ensure at all times a DPS or appointed member of staff is capable and competent at downloading CCTV footage in a recordable format to the Police and Local Authority upon reasonable request

·         In the event of technical failure of the CCTV equipment the premises licence holder or DPS must report the failure to the Police Licensing Officer within 24 hours unless the CCTV will be repaired before that time (licensing.north.division@kent.pnn.police.uk)

 

4.    All persons that sell or supply alcohol to customers must have licensing training.

 

·         Training should take place within six weeks of employment and any new employees will be supervised until the training has taken place

 

·         Refresher training should be repeated a minimum of every six months or earlier if required due to changes of legislation

 

·         Training records must be kept on the premises and shall contain the nature, content and frequency of all training

 

·         Records must be made available for inspection by Police, Police Licensing Officer and authorised officers from the Local Authority upon request either electronically or hard copy

 

5.    The premises licence holder or designed premises supervisor must keep an incident register.  Staff are to be trained to complete an incident book/records immediately after the incident but no later than the end of their shift.  The register must be kept on the premises and will detail

·         Day, date and time of incident

·         Nature of incident

·         Resolution

·         Each entry is to be checked and signed by the DPS/Licensee no later than 1 week after the entry has been made.

The register must be made available to Police, Police Licensing Officers and authorised officers from the Local Authority either electronically or hard copy.

 

6.    For all events that are open to the general adult public after 8.30pm there should be a minimum of 2 door supervisors per 75 persons on any evening at the front entrance/exit and additional door supervisors for every 75 additional persons.  Additional door supervisors are expected to walk the event area and buildings to ensure all patrons are monitored.  For the purpose of this condition an event is defined as one where live music or recorded music is provided to entertain members of the public but does not include provision of live music by two performers or less.

 

7.    The premises shall have a written drugs policy, this will detail the strategies to minimise the use and supply of illegal drugs within the premises.  The drugs policy shall include a structured training policy for all staff covering the issues of misuse of drugs in relation to licensed premises.  Records must be kept to show members of staff who have taken the training.

 

8.    The licence holder shall ensure that at least one personal licence holder is available on the licensed premises while the sale or supply of alcohol is being undertaken at the premises.

 

9.    No customers carrying open or sealed bottles shall be admitted to the premises at any time the premises are open to the public.

 

10.A register of complaints shall be kept and made available for inspection to Police, Environmental Health and Licensing Authority on request.  Staff will be employed to monitor occupancy levels.  As part of their role they will monitor patrons in each area (a) Upstairs Bar (b) Downstairs Bar and (c) Outside Areas so as not to exceed levels as set in their risk assessment.

11.The premises shall have a written dispersal policy that outlines the procedures for events and general trading operation for management, door supervisors and staff.  The policy shall contain procedures on (a) supervising customers to ensure that it is managed in a way that avoids rowdy, unpleasant behaviour and to keep customers quiet so as to not disturb neighbours in the vicinity (b) procedure on refusing entry or banning those who repeatedly cause a nuisance by noise and rowdy behaviour.

12.At all events there shall be a qualified first aid person, training to a nationally recognised standard, on the premises and easily identifiable.  A notice stating the availability of first aid person shall be prominently displayed inside and outside the premises and shall be protected from damage or deterioration.  There shall be first aid equipment and materials available at the premises whilst the premises are trading.

13.The licence holder shall produce risk assessments that must have proper regard to the Health and Safety Executive guidance ‘The Event Safety Guide: A guide to health, safety and welfare at music and similar events’.  It must address but is not limited to risks specific to the nature of the proposed event and its potential to undermine the licensing objectives.  The risk assessments must be submitted in writing either by post or electronically to Police Licensing Team (licensing.north.division@kent.pnn.police.uk), the local Licensing Authority and Environmental Health a minimum of 31 days before the event.

14.When regulated entertainment and background music takes place outdoors, a noise management plan must be in place to review the impact of noise prior to, during and after each event.  The noise management plan shall be periodically reviewed and/or when significant changes occur in the operation, building or event type or following a complaint.

15.The licence holder shall erect and maintain clear and prominent notices on the exterior of their premises advising patrons stating the actual operating hours of the premises.

16.At all events staff will only provide the use of polycarbonate, plastic or toughened glasses.  All bottled drinks will be decanted into the plastic containers.

17.Temporary structure will be limited to a stage or marquee, which will be positioned away from the river and displayed on the outside plans.

18.Advertising of events at the premises will be limited to posters on the premises and on the premises website.