The Licensing Sub-Committee A of Hackney Council was scheduled to consider an application for a new premises licence for 83 Rivington Street Event Space, 83 Rivington Street, London, EC2A 3AY.

Application for a Premises Licence - 83 Rivington Street Event Space, 83 Rivington Street EC2A 3AY

MKM Resources Ltd submitted an application for a premises licence at 83 Rivington Street Event Space. The applicant requested authorisation for plays, films, live music, recorded music, performance of dance, anything of a similar description to live music, recorded music, or performance of dance, the supply of alcohol and late night refreshment, from Monday to Sunday. The applicant included a proposed schedule of conditions with their application.

The premises does not currently hold a licence, and the applicant's supporting documents state:

This premises licence will only be operated by MKM resources ltd and at no point sold or given to SBG or any of their known associates.

The application was made by William Knowles-Mofford, the Managing Director of MKM Resources Ltd, and the proposed Designated Premises Supervisor is William Knowles-Mofford.

Representations

Representations objecting to the granting of the licence were received from the Licensing Authority and 28 local residents. The Metropolitan Police and the Environmental Enforcement team withdrew their representations on the basis of a number of conditions being included in any licence that was granted.

The Licensing Authority received a representation on the grounds of prevention of public nuisance. They objected to the application because:

The hours sought in the application are in excess of LP3 Core Hours set out in the Hackney Licensing Policy.

The licensing authority also stated in their representation:

Recently commissioned research on behalf of the Council shows that the Shoreditch area suffers from the negative cumulative impact likely to be as a result of the large number of night-time, licensed venues in the area. The report states that this is at a significantly greater intensity and spatial scale than the rest of the borough’s clusters of night-time economy. These impacts include: ● High levels of crime, such as thefts, robberies and violence ● Significant on-street urination ● Large numbers of calls to the London Ambulance Service

A number of residents also objected to the application. 28 representations were received from and on behalf of residents, citing all 4 licensing objectives:

Representation received on the grounds of The Prevention of Crime and Disorder, Public Safety, Prevention of Public Nuisance and The Protection of Children from Harm.

One of the residents objecting to the application stated:

For ten years (2000-2010) I was owner, licensee and personal licence holder of a successful venue on Old Street, Shoreditch EC2¹ and was a member of the Shoreditch Pubwatch.

They went on to state:

8LI▯WTIGM½G▯TVSFPIQW▯XLEX▯LEZI▯EVMWIR▯EPSRKWMHI▯XLI▯2MKLX▯Time Economy include: • Violence and public disorder, with frequent instances of grievous bodily harm (including knife crime).There is usually at least one altercation / assault which takes place on Boundary Street per fortnight • Drug use and drug dealing, both for the local homeless population and for partygoers, which results in many intoxicated individuals in the streets late at night and often leads to ZMSPIRGI▯SV▯HERKIVSYW▯HVMZMRK▯YRHIV▯XLI▯MR¾YIRGI▯▯8LMW▯GER▯FI▯IEWMP]▯[MXRIWWIH▯HYVMRK▯ER] given week • Prostitution, with people making use of local residents’ courtyards to conduct their business • Vandalism and littering, including everything from smashing windows of local shops, to spray painting on walls or vehicles parked in the street, to broken glass on the pavements, to people urinating / defecating on residents’ door steps • Antisocial noise levels throughout the night and into the early hours of the morning. This is most directly felt by residents when groups of partygoers arrive to the area by car, park outside residents windows on Boundary Street and play loud music from their vehicles to party, drink and take drugs either before or after going to a local venue. This can take place for hours at a time and is impossible to ignore as Abingdon House is only permitted single pane windows due to building regulations, so the sound barrier is negligible. During the summer months when this is most problematic, I will have to ask partygoers to move on multiple times per night on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. Many react aggressively or turn the volume of their music up further. The matter is often aggravated by the noise of young children crying, who have been disturbed. Raising the issue with law IRJSVGIQIRX▯SJXIR▯HSIW▯RSX▯PIEH▯XS▯SJ½GIVW▯EVVMZMRK▯JSV▯ERSXLIV▯LSYV▯SV▯WS

Three residents submitted representations in support of the application.

Officer Observations

The Licensing Officer recommended that the Sub-Committee consider a number of options regarding the application.

Option 1 That the application be refused.

Option 2 That the application be approved, together with any conditions or restrictions which Members consider necessary for the promotion of the Licensing objectives.

The Licensing Officer recommended that if the application was approved, 61 conditions should be attached to the licence. The Licensing Officer's observations regarding the conditions that they recommended were:

Conditions (10) to (53) are derived from the applicant’s operating schedule, conditions (54) to (55) are agreed with the Police and conditions (56) to (61) are agreed with the Environmental Enforcement.

The Licensing Officer also made the Sub-Committee aware of a number of relevant policies, including the guidance issued under Section 182 of the Licensing Act 2003, Hackney Council's Statement of Licensing Policy 2023 and The Hackney Cumulative Impact Research Review 2023.