Transcript

[ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to this meeting of North York's Council's statutory licensing subcommittee. Today's meeting is being live broadcast on YouTube, as you can see on the camera. First item on the agenda is the appointment of a chair for the meeting. Can I invite nominations from the subcommittee for a chair for this meeting? [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] [ Silence ] Right. Well, the procedure is fairly straightforward. What will happen is that one will present the case on behalf of the council. We as a panel will clarify any issues we're not quite sure of. You'll also have the opportunity to clarify what one's saying if you're not clear about what's going on. And then you will have your opportunity to do your presentation and we'll be able to cross examine you and one will as well. Now, although it's a formal hearing, I like to treat it as a relaxed atmosphere. So I don't want you to be worried about if you want to interrupt or say something, as long as you put your hand up and you're not clear about something. I don't want you to leave this room without saying all you need to say. Okay. Before we go any further, is there any -- there are some representatives here, Ed. Are they going to appear? There's nowhere else in reception. So as far as I'm aware, no one else is attending. If they do arrive late, I'll be informed by reception. I'll come and get them and let you know. That's excellent. And they know to come in here if they do turn up. That's excellent. Right. Without further ado, then one is over to you. Good afternoon, Chair. This afternoon's licensing subcommittee hearing is determined an application submitted by Jeremy Verity under the licensing Act 2003. I can confirm that all statutory requirements have been complied with. The application is for the variation of a premises license for what do you know, limited, trade in as Leferia, ground floor, Wellington House, Cold Bath Road, Harrogate, HG2, 0NA. The application is outlined at Appendix 1, which is shown from Page 9 of the report and seeks the removal of a condition agreed with North Yorkshire Council's Environmental Protection Team, which is attached to the premises license. Namely, customers shall not use external areas of the premises for eating and/or drinking between the hours of 2,100 hours and 0,900 hours. And to be replaced with the following condition. Customers shall not use external areas of the premises for eating and/or drinking between the hours of 2,100 hours and 1,100 hours during the months of October to March. April to September, the external areas can be used between 1,100 hours and 2,300 hours, Monday to Saturday. Hours of use on Sundays during this period shall be the same as those during the months of October to March. All other conditions attached to the current premises license are to remain. The current premises license authorizes the following licenseable activities. Sale by retail of alcohol, Monday to Thursday, 1,100 hours until 2,300 hours. Friday and Saturday, 1,100 hours until 0,100 hours. Sunday, 1,100 hours until 2,230 hours. Late night refreshment, Friday and Saturday, 2,300 hours until 0,00 hours. The Live Music Act 2012 removes the licensing requirement for amplified live music taking place between 0,800 hours and 2,300 hours before audiences of no more than 500 premises persons on premises authorized to supply alcohol for consumption on the premises. Background music is also exempt. The opening hours of the premises are currently Monday to Thursday 0,8,30 hours until 2,230 hours. Friday and Saturday 0,8,30 hours until 0,00,30 hours and Sunday 0,8,30 hours until 2,300 hours. A copy of the current premises license is attached to Appendix 4, which is shown from page 39 of the report. Following a recommendation made by an environmental health officer during a similar variation hearing in March 2018 in which the application had been refused, the premises have submitted 43 temporary event notices in total, 17 of those in the past 12 months in order to make use of the external areas until 2,300 hours. These dates for the past 12 months are shown in 2.4, which is shown on page 5 of the report. There was one complaint received in May 2018 of noise from an extractor fan, which was due to a cleaner turning on the fans when cleaning the canopy. This issue was resolved. There have been no other complaints received. The applicant has accepted additional conditions proposed by North Yorkshire Police during the consultation period. These are outlined in Appendix 5, which is shown from page 47 of the report. A representation has been received from North Yorkshire Council's Environmental Protection Team on the objective of prevention of public nuisance. This is shown at Appendix 6, which is shown from page 53 of the report. The applicant has accepted the representation in full and has agreed to all the conditions contained within the representation. This agreement and withdrawal of the representation is detailed in Appendix 6.1, which is shown from page 55 of the report. Three representations were received from other persons on the objective of prevention of public nuisance. These are attached to Appendix 7.1 to 7.3, which is shown from page 57 of the report. Section 10.2 of the report confirms the matters, which may be considered by the licensing subcommittee, those being crime and disorder, public safety, public nuisance and the protection of children from harm. The options available to the subcommittee today are outlined in section 13.0 of the report and are to grant the license, to grant the license with conditions or to reject the application in whole or in part. Thank you, Chair. I'm happy to answer any questions. Right. Thank you for that report. You've already said this. I just want to confirm it for the benefit of us all here, is that certainly on page 5 of this report, gender item 5, there's 17 instances in the last year where they've attended. They've used the external areas during that time, haven't they, down to 11? They have, yes, until 2300 hours. And then we know complaints whatsoever. No complaints received. Right. And you're telling me that there was an application this license went through in 2018. It was refused. The grounds, obviously, on the potential of noise was that. That's correct, Chair. And there's been 43, including these 17, since then, just one was to do with extract to find what was put to demonstrate away. That's correct, Chair. That's six years ago. That's correct, Chair. Thank you. Right. Well, the only other question is, I'm rather disappointed that no representatives are here, but reading the representatives, particularly on page 57. If you look at appendix 7.1, it's the Angela Cameron. It's disappointed. It says, I'm a resident of, can you give me that property and how far it is away from the premises? We can't disclose an address here. Well, that's unfortunate because obviously, I can only treat it as relevant when I know exactly where it is in relation to the property, which basically ties my hands, but never mind. And, Chair, if you're allowing me, I can advise that all the representations are in the immediate vicinity, but I cannot stipulate exactly where they are. That's helpful. When you say it's in the vicinity, you're about yards. I can't comment on the exact vicinity, but all the details are shown in the plans of the immediate vicinity, which have included in my report. That's helpful. Looking at that letter from Angela Cameron, the second paragraph, it says, my property, and indeed, is already quite noisy for us. I just wondered, the question I would have asked Angela would have been, did she complain about the noise? But obviously, she's not here to ask that question, and no doubt you can answer that question, because there'd be no complaint made to you about the noise. I can confirm there's been no complaints received apart from the one in 2018 regarding the extract to fan. That's helpful. And the only other question I would ask was, in addition to the other representatives, which is Brad Smith and Lucy Cook, their complaint tends to be on the potential that this is going to create noise. Would you agree with that? That's correct, Chair. Well, I've no further questions. Thank you for your answers. No, I think that covers what I was going to say, Chair. Thank you very much. I have the same here. I have no extra questions. No, I have no questions to ask. Everything seems to be totally relevant and in order, and from what we've already known from, you know, trade in there for eight years. Okay, right. Well, it's over to you then. Okay, so we have operated as a successful restaurant on Call Bath Road since 2016. I've been the general manager there for the last eight years. We have worked alongside several businesses on Call Bath Road, having fundraised in an event and been part of the community. We've not had any complaints from anybody in regards to noise. We've always complied with anything that's been asked of us by putting notices asking guests when they're leaving to be respectful of the neighbours. And since the pandemic in particular, when we came back and it was only outdoor dining and seating for quite a substantial period of time, we complied with every aspect of our licence to make sure that we didn't create any extra noise or go beyond the actual licence in restrictions that were being given. We are very sensitive to the neighbours and want to live in harmony with everybody on Call Bath Road. And we always endeavour to make sure that the terrace is completely empty by 9pm, which can be quite challenging in the summer months, particularly. We can't sit guests outside after 7pm, so it's kind of 7pm is the cut-off limit so people can experience and sit and have a nice meal. Coffee is desserts after the meal, but then we have to say I'm very politely asked them to leave by 9pm due to our restrictions, which you can imagine sometimes can be quite challenging. People would like to stay a little bit longer and just relax. I think it's not about trying – we're a family run, family friendly restaurant, we're not a late night bar, music venue, we're just trying to just extend a later dining experience in summer, really, for all I guess, which has been raised by a lot of regular people, so it'd be lovely to be able to sit out here a little bit longer in the later evenings. As you've obviously quite rightly said one, we've had numerous temporary events, notices over the last few years, and we've not had any complaints, noise complaints. I've not had anybody say, ask me why those people still out there at 10.30 in the evening. Quite often it will be more on a Friday and Saturday when people maybe stay a bit later. We very rarely have people wanting to stay out late Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and we obviously have said we'll just do it for six months of the year rather than all year round. We're also aware that several other restaurants in our vicinity that do have later licenses than ourselves, so it's kind of – we would just like the same opportunity as some of the other restaurants nearby and to be able to trade until 11pm, like they can do. I don't know. Sorry, I'm losing track. I don't know. Sorry, I'll start again. I know, I feel like I'm on trial. No. No, I'm OK. Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you. Yes, so it'd just be nice to be able to just trade slightly longer and just have that opportunity. It would be a great opportunity for the restaurant. We've survived COVID as an independent restaurant, which was very challenging at the time. We've retained our staff and the team, and we'd just like that opportunity to give the staff extra hours, make extra money for the business as well, and be able to keep going for another eight years. An independent's are very strongly recognised in Harrogate as kind of a favourite restaurant, you know, a favourite place for people to go. I think that's kind of where I'll leave it, if that's OK. I'd just reiterate really what Sarah said, I mean, Sarah runs a brilliant team. She's got a fantastic CV. We're fortunate as a business to other in its own 30 years of experience. We're in much larger venues than we do, and she runs it exceptionally well. You know, with the team, I was looking at the pictures of actually the opening day, and I think there's still eight of the stuff that's been with us all the way through. So, you know, we care passionately about the business, we care passionately about our people and our colleagues that work within it. We're passionate about serving our customers, and it's very difficult to say to somebody when it's a lovely evening. I'm sorry, but you can't book a table, but you can go 200 yards down the road or 200 yards up the road, and you'll be fine there. You know, we have applied and been granted temporary licenses, and we have opened on those days, and we haven't received any complaints, and we are very diligent about running the business. It's a community, as I'm sure you're all very aware of, which is a small one. So, you know, we have no interest in doing anything short-term. This is a business that's always taken a long-term view. And we just feel like this brings us in line with other restaurants within our area, and helps us move the business forward. You've spoken very passionately, Sarah, and it's good to hear what you've had to say. The situation is, of course, we grant this license. If we do grant this license, you may not be working there. Maybe someone else, so it's important that the person serves there, it keeps at the highest standards that you've got. I just want a few questions I'd like to ask. You've answered one of them, which was in terms of the other premises in the area. How close are they, and how does they operate? There's two restaurants like horses, two restaurants, and one bar/pup a little bit further down. So, one of the restaurants is probably within 200 yards of bars in this direction, and the other is on the same side within 200 yards, one to the right, one to the left. And from what I gather, well, the information I've been given is the worn further down towards Harrogate Time Center. It's got a license till 11.30, and they have got a small outside area. And the restaurant to go in further up-call Bath Road has got the license till 11.00 pm as well. And then the pub a bit further down has external areas till 11.00 pm. Sorry, can I just interd it? Whilst obviously it's interesting, it's not relevant to this application. You're looking at this application in terms of the application itself and the representations have made. The other premises are not relevant to this application. No, I accept that, but I still want to know a flavour of what's happening in the area. So it's important for me to understand how things are going in the other area. My decisions will be purely about your premises, but it gives me a flavour because I'm not used to this area. I'm not from to Harrogate. But in terms of your premises, you've been there since 2016, have the place ever had to attend your premises at all? No. No. No. Because my final question you'd be glad to know is that in terms of, in particular, the 17 events that you've had. Yes. There's obviously an opportunity there where people were set outside your premises between 9.00 and 11.00 pm. Yeah, that's correct. Did you ever have to go to them and say, Just keep your noise down because of the, or did they already accept that because of the signs you've got? No, they've already, they already accept it. And you've got sufficient staff to supervise them. Yes. Yeah. There's always, there's myself who's a general manager and I've got an assistant manager and a deputy manager and there's always one of us present every single evening of the week. And we always make sure that we manage any noise, not that we've been, we've been lucky enough that we have never had to manage any situation that's got out of hand. Because as I say, we're more, it's a family restaurant, people just wanting to sit and down with the children, with the dogs, with friends. It's not kind of a drinking, just coming to drink kind of situation. And we also, we're always very aware of if we do get a few tables coming into drink, we kind of go right, we've got three tables, we're just drinking and we'll just keep the rest of the diners. Because we don't want it to become a bar drinking outside atmosphere, it is, we are a restaurant predominantly. Okay, absolutely. Right, give me any questions. I've got a couple for you, so what's the latest order for food you take? Outside, 7pm. Okay. Because we have to have the area vacated for 9pm, so we don't sit any diners outside after 7pm. Okay, so if you've got the new premises license, what would be the last? At 9pm, we'd take last tables in at 9pm. That's fine, and the other thing is, how long does it take you to clean up when you finish? Because I'm thinking here that it could be, you could be creating noise till 11 o'clock if you're cleaning up that area. Well, the way the kind of the terrace is, it's kind of in three sections. So we've got a bottom area of the terrace, middle section, and then the section that's nearest the restaurant, which is actually semi-enclothes. We've got, it's got a roof and we've got a semi-permanent, I think of the word. But it, you know, the canvas, yeah, and closes it. So we tend to what we do is we sit the tables at the bottom that are going to be finished earlier first. And then that area's cleaned, gone, done first, which is the nearest the roadside. And then we go to the middle area and then the top area. But the cleaning up, it's not very noisy. It's not, we always make sure, so, eight, thirty, last orders for drinks, for desserts, the coffees, with the bills going down on the table at quarter two, ten to nine. And very respectfully asking our guests that, just a reminder, we do need this area vacated for nine p.m. That's very useful to know. We would manage it the same way if we got 11. Excellent, that's all I wanted to know. Thank you very much for that. No chair, I have no questions to ask. If you didn't ask them any questions yourself, I might be able to ask them. I'll write them out for you next year. You've covered all my questions. 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We're on, but this licensed subcommittee has been convened to consider the application. My, what do you know, trading is La Faria, I got that right. Thank you, on Cold Bath Road Harrogate for a variation of the premises license to allow for an extension of the use of external areas to the premises until 2300 hours Monday to Saturday for the months of April to September, the subcommittee is considered the written and vote representations of Mr. Malachi on behalf of the licensing authority, particularly in relation to the temporary event notices and the applicant during the last 12 months. The licensing authority has received no complaints from local residents during this time. The subcommittee is considered the written representations of the local residents, as detailed in appendix seven of our report. The subcommittee have also considered the all representations presentations on behalf of the applicant today. And I've had the opportunity to ask questions of the applicant and the co-owner. Finally, the subcommittee is considered the licensing objectives and their relevance to this particular application after consideration of all the above the subcommittee have decided to approve the application for the variation of conditions attached to the license. There is a right of appeal, if you wish to appeal, but I don't think we need to go into that. Okay, so well done, and thanks for your presentation. And I'd also like to praise one for your presentation to us today. It was very helpful and the information was comprehensive. Okay, that closed the meeting. [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO] [BLANKAUDIO]