The Licensing Sub Committee D met on Tuesday 8 October 2024 and approved a licence variation for the Collective Acting Studio in Tiltman Place. The licence was granted subject to existing conditions, some minor amendments, and an agreement that the applicant would not operate under the licence until relevant planning permission had been sought.

Collective Acting Studio, 2 Tiltman Place

The Sub-Committee considered a report on an application for a variation to the premises licence for Collective Acting Studio, 2 Tiltman Place. The application requested that the licence be varied to:

• Allow the sale of alcohol until 23:00 Sundays to Thursdays and until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays
• Remove a number of existing conditions on the licence, including the requirement for the premises to be used only for the sale of beer and wine, and the restriction on under-21s entering the bar
• Amend a number of existing conditions on the licence

Representations had been made by a local resident, but they did not attend the meeting. The applicant explained that they had invited the resident to the premises to discuss their concerns, but the resident had declined, saying

Unfortunately I believe your commitment to minimising noise disturbance and ensuring that patrons leave quietly, as well as your effort to encourage safe and quiet dispersal is not really happening.

Yesterday night around 10 pm, just to make my point, there was a sudden burst of noise, loud voices, laughs etc. from a quite big group of young people coming out of the theatre.

The Sub-Committee heard that the applicant was seeking to regularise the licence for the venue after taking it over, and to remove some out-of-date conditions.

The applicant explained that they had not sought planning permission before making the application, despite knowing that the later hours they were applying for may be at odds with the existing planning permission for the site.

The applicant advised that the cost of this was high and the applicant wanted to know if a licence variation could be granted without new planning permission. The applicant mentioned that if there was a need to seek for planning permission, then they would choose not to extend the opening hours for the bar/café.

The Sub-Committee noted this, and added a condition to the licence that it would not be used to permit the sale of alcohol after 21:00 until the relevant planning permission to vary condition 11 of planning application P100389 had been granted.

The Sub-Committee also heard that:

• The applicant had a dispersal policy which included a 30-minute wind-down period at the end of the evening where alcohol would not be sold
• The applicant proposed that a member of staff would be responsible for overseeing the dispersal of patrons from the venue at closing time
• The applicant intended to apply for planning permission for the later hours if the licence variation was granted
• The applicant was willing to work with local residents to address any concerns they may have

The Sub-Committee granted the licence variation subject to existing conditions, and some minor amendments, including a condition requiring the applicant to cease the sale of alcohol 30 minutes before closing time.