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 Spartan Bar, Rear of 75 High Street, Strood, Kent, ME2 4AH. All responsible authorities have been consulted in line with the Licensing Act 2003.

A representation supporting the review has been received from the Kent Fire and Rescue Service.  No further representations supporting the review have been received from members of the public or other responsible authorities.

Discussion:

The Licensing Hearing Panel determined that the hearing would take place in the absence of the Licence Holder.

The Licensing Officer said that, in accordance with Section 51 of the Licensing Act 2003, the Council had received an application from Kent Police, as a responsible authority, for a review of the existing premises licence in respect of Spartans Bar, Rear of 75 High Street, Strood, Kent ME2 2UH. All responsible authorities had been consulted in line with the Licensing Act 2003.

The licensee had surrendered the licence for the premises on 25 March 2019.

The grounds for the review related to three of the four licensing objectives:

·         The prevention of crime and disorder

·         Public safety

·         The protection of children from harm

The application had been correctly advertised for the required timescale by placing notices at the premises, Council contact points and on the Council’s website, 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 relevant parties for the licensed premises along with the other responsible authorities.

A representation supporting the review had been received from Kent Fire & Rescue Service. No further representations supporting the review had been received from members of the public or other responsible authorities.

The following documents were included in the agenda for the Panel’s consideration:

Appendix A – Pages 11 to 16: Copy of current premises licence

Appendix B – Page 17: Plan showing the location of the premises

Appendix C – Page 19 to 24: Copy of the Review Application

Appendix D – Pages 25 to 26: Copy of representation

Appendix E – Pages 27 to 28: Copy of letter surrendering licence

The Licensing Hearing Panel resolved that the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the exempt material relating to the application for review of the Premises Licence of Spartans Bar (agenda item 6), because consideration of these matters in public would disclose information falling within one or more categories of exempt information contained in Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as specified in agenda item 7 and, in all the circumstances of the case, the Committee considered that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information. 

The Chairman invited the representatives from Kent Police to present the application for a licence review. PC Hunt said that there had been multiple incidents relating to the premises, with at least three of the unique licensing conditions relating to the premises having been routinely breached.

The application showed the efforts of both Police Licensing Officers and Licensing Authority Officers to try and address these issues using a stepped approach to support both the Designated Premises Supervisor and the Premises Licence Holder. These had been unsuccessful and had resulted in these officers being subjected to verbal abuse and aggressive behaviour. It was also considered that the Designated Premises Supervisor was completely unsuitable and not a fit and proper person to uphold the licensing objectives and that the Premises Licence Holder had been in a situation which had completely removed her of control to replace him, or have any control generally over the premises.

PC Hunt advised that Spartans Bar is a small bar located to the rear of a boxing gym at 75 High Street. The Premises Licence holder, Janet Sterry, had surrendered the licence to the licensing authority in a letter dated 25 March 2019 and there was no representative of the premises present at the hearing.

PC Hunt gave details of a number of incidents at the premise which formed the basis of the police’s application. In addition PC Hunt advised that Kent Police had held concerns about the management of the premises since February 2018. There had been regular visits to the premises, which had found licence breaches and other examples of mismanagement. Efforts to work with both Janet Sterry and Robert Medley during this time had failed.

Kent Police considered that Robert Medley was not fit to be a Designated Premises Supervisor. It was also considered that Janet Sterry had shown disregard to the licensing act, the police and the licensing authority as she had allowed licensing conditions to be breached on at least two occasions and had not taken steps to alleviate concerns raised, including having not replaced Robert Medley as Designated Premises Supervisor.

Although Kent Police was not aware of any very serious incidents, such as a stabbing or glassing having occurred at the premises, it was considered that the likelihood of such an incident taking place would increase if the premises continued to operate in its current form without action being taken.

Having considered all of the available options, Kent Police requested that the Licensing Hearing Panel revoke the premises licence of Spartans Bar.     

In response to questions from Panel Members asking why revocation of the premises licence had not been sought earlier, PC Hill explained that consideration had been given to this previously, but that the Police and Licensing had wanted to give Janet Sterry the opportunity to address the issues identified. However, it was considered that, in view of the number of breaches of licensing conditions and other circumstances, that this was no longer a viable option.

In response to a further Panel Member question, it was confirmed that Spartans bar was relatively new and had not previously been a licensed premises. Robert Medley had previously run premises elsewhere.

Laura Dowling from the Kent Fire and Rescue Service described how evidence had been found, on 13 September 2018, of persons sleeping in a store area at the premises. This was considered to be a serious risk to life. The Fire and Rescue Service had issued a restriction notice to prohibit persons from sleeping in the store room. On 15 January 2019, a further visit to check that the restriction notice was being complied with, found further evidence of persons sleeping at the premises. No fire risk assessment had been completed in relation to the premises. Robert Medley had said that no one slept there and that the relevant items had just not been removed.

The Chairman asked all parties to leave the room during the Panel’s deliberations. They, as well as the press and public, returned for the Chairman’s announcement of the Panel’s decision.

The Chairman noted that the panel felt a degree of frustration regarding the length of time that issues at the premises had persisted.

Decision:

a)     In reviewing the current premises licence for Spartans Bar, Rear of 75 High Street, Strood, Kent, ME2 4AH, the Panel considered the written and oral evidence presented at the hearing, and had regard to both Medway Council’s current Licensing Policy and the Statutory Guidance.

b)     The Panel determined that the premises licence be revoked to prevent it being reinstated. This revocation was due to a series of licence breaches having occurred and continued mismanagement of the premises over a prolonged period, during which incidents of crime and disorder had occurred.