Agenda item

The applicant has applied for a variation of the Premises Licence in respect of the Brasenose Club, 168-170 Nelson Road, Gillingham, Kent, ME7 4LU. All responsible authorities have been consulted in line with the Licensing Act 2003.

The application before Members is as amended by the applicant following consultation and agreement with the Police. The applicant has amended the original application. Further representations have been received from members of the public and a Ward Councillor to date no agreement has been reached. 

Discussion:

The Chairman asked those present to introduce themselves and explained the process that the hearing would follow as outlined in the agenda.

The Licensing Officer stated that, in accordance with the Licensing Act 2003, the Council had received an application for a variation of the premises licence for the Brasenose Club, 168-170 Nelson Road, Gillingham, Kent, ME7 4LU. The application requested the removal or variation of some of the conditions attached to the licence.

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 timescale. 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 members of the public and a Ward Councillor. The application had been amended following consultation and agreement with the Police. The amended application was as set out at Appendix 3 to the agenda report.

The Chairman invited the applicant, Mr Bakhshish Sandhu, to present the application. Mr Sandhu said that he had taken over the running of the club seven years ago and that the Licensing Unit or Police had not raised any issues with the way it was managed. He considered that many of the conditions attached to licence were not needed and he was therefore seeking to have them removed.

The Chairman invited the objector, Mr Reeds, to question Mr Sandhu and he asked why the applicant was seeking to remove the conditions as they had been attached to the licence because of anti-social behaviour by club members and guests. Mr Sandhu responded that Mr Reeds was referring to a time before he had taken over the running of the club. Mr Reeds expressed concern that the removal of condition 11, which required the premises to close 30 minutes after last orders, could lead to late night drinking, adding that he had suffered noise disturbance at 00:20 hours. Mr Sandhu reminded Mr Reeds that he could contact him by phone in such instances. Responding to a question about condition 18, which instructed staff not to admit or serve drunk or disorderly people, Mr Sandhu said that the condition was unnecessary as this already happened. Turning to conditions 22 to 24 regarding club membership, Mr Reeds expressed concern that their removal would, in effect, turn the club into a public house. In addition, he considered condition 25, requiring an acoustic report, to be sensible as the building was not designed for loud music. Mr Sandhu responded that only Mr Reeds and one other neighbour had raised concerns with him.  Mr Reeds also questioned the proposed variation of condition 27 to enable the consumption of alcohol in the beer garden until 23:00 hours. Mr Sandhu said that this was for members who wished to smoke and that noise levels were regularly checked by staff.

Next, members of the Panel questioned Mr Sandhu and asked why he was seeking the removal of condition 18 which prevented under 18’s from being on the premises when there was entertainment of an adult nature. Mr Sandhu responded that the club did not provide such entertainment. At the request of a Panel member, he explained how staff dealt with drunk and disorderly customers and added that he would be happy for condition 18 to remain on the licence. Questioned on condition 28 regarding quarterly meetings with residents, the accepted that these had not always taken place but said that only one or two residents had attended previous meetings. Questioned on the reasons for removing condition 22, concerning club membership, Mr Sandhu confirmed that he was happy for this condition to be retained. 

The Chairman invited Mr Reeds to present his objections to the application to vary the premises licence. He outlined his historic complaints about the club and explained that the situation had much improved when the current conditions had be placed on the licence. He expressed concern that the removal of conditions would lead to a return to the situation that existed 10 years ago.  Mr Reeds highlighted a particular concern regarding the use of the garden which he considered should be restricted. He suggested that there should be no access later in the evening except for use of the smoking shelter where drinks should not be allowed.

The Chairman invited Mr Sandhu to question Mr Reeds. He suggested that it was better for patrons to smoke in the rear garden than at the front of the premises and that he was always willing to meet with Mr Reeds and other residents to discuss any concerns. In response to a question from the Panel, Mr Reeds said he had contacted the club regularly before the last hearing but had not done so recently.

Summing up, Mr Reeds said that main issues for neighbouring residents was the use of the rear garden and loud music. Mr Sandhu said that he was happy for the use of the rear garden to cease at 23:00 hours. 

The Chairman asked all parties to leave the room whilst the Panel considered its decision.

Decision:

1.     In considering the application to vary the premises licence for the Brasenose Club, 168-170 Nelson Road, Gillingham, Kent, ME7 4LU, the Licensing Hearing Panel had regard to the Licensing Act 2003, the statutory guidance issued under S182 of the Act, the Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy and all matters before it, both written and oral.

2.     The Panel agreed that the premises licence be amended to reflect the following:

Condition 11

To be removed as requested – the premises to close at 11:30 hours Sunday to Friday and 00:00 hours on Saturday.

Condition 12(not Condition 10 as stated in the agenda report)

To be varied as agreed by the applicant following consultation with the Police, to read:

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 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.

Conditions 15 and 16

To be varied in line with current standard conditions to state that Under 14’s are not allowed on the premises unless accompanied by an adult after 21:00 hours.

Condition 18

To be retained as offered by the applicant at the hearing. The following condition to be added,as agreed by the applicant following consultation with the Police:

The License Holder will maintain auditable refusal/incident records. These records will detail the following;

a)  Day, Date and Time of Refusal/Incident.

b)  Nature of Refusal/Incident and reason.

c)  Details of or description of the individual.

These records will be made available for inspection to any Police Officer, Police Licensing Officer, and Officer of the Local Authority immediately upon demand.

Conditions 22, 23 and 24

Membership conditions to be retained following the applicant’s offerat the hearing that condition 22 be retained.

Conditions 25 and 26

To be retained with an additional requirement to submit an updated report to Environmental Health.

Condition 27

To be retained to reduce the risk of public nuisance in this residential area, but varied to state that the beer garden will close at 21:00 hours except for the use of the smoking shelter where the consumption of alcohol will not be permitted after 21:00 hours.

Condition 28

To be retained with the applicant urged to hold quarterly meetings with local residents.