The Licensing Sub-Committee of Southwark Council was scheduled to consider an application for a new premises licence for Vision Lounge, 516 Old Kent Road, London SE1 5BA. The application was submitted by Hanson Ent Limited and had received representations from four responsible authorities and 13 other people.

Application for a New Premises Licence for Vision Lounge

The application for Vision Lounge requested permission for the following:

• The sale by retail of alcohol (on sales only):
  • Sunday to Wednesday from 22:00 to 04:00
  • Thursday to Saturday from 22:00 to 05:00
• The provision of late night refreshment (indoors):
  • Sunday to Wednesday from 23:00 to 04:00
  • Thursday to Saturday from 23:00 to 05:00
• The provision of regulated entertainment in the form of plays, films, live music, recorded music, performances of dance and anything similar (indoors):
  • Sunday to Wednesday from 22:00 to 04:00
  • Thursday to Saturday from 22:00 to 05:00
• Opening hours:
  • Sunday to Wednesday from 08:00 to 05:00
  • Thursday to Saturday from 08:00 to 06:00
• Non-standard hours (opening hours and licensable activities):
  • From the end of permitted hours on New Year’s Eve to the start of permitted hours on New Year’s Day
  • 05:00 on Sundays immediately before Bank Holiday Mondays.

The report pack included for discussion the intended operation of the premises, described as follows:

“Vision Lounge is located on the ground floor of the building. There are three fire exits doors to the premises, two VIPs sitting areas, a raised stage area at the end of the floor, a kitchen and two toilets for ladies and for gents, an entrance lobby, a cloakroom at the side of the building, a car park in front of the premises and with a smoking area at the back.”

The proposed designated premises supervisor is Mr Eddie Hanson¹, who holds a personal licence with the London Borough of Camden and is the Director of Hanson Ent Limited.

Representations

The report pack says there were representations from four responsible authorities:

• The Metropolitan Police Service (Licensing Division)
• The council’s trading standards team
• The council's environmental protection team
• The licensing authority.

The Metropolitan Police pointed to a problematic history of the club having been associated with crime and disorder. The Metropolitan Police also said the hours applied for far exceeded those recommended in the Southwark Statement of Licensing Policy for a residential area.

The representation from trading standards as a responsible authority requested additional conditions which had been accepted and the representation withdrawn.

The environmental protection team said the hours were beyond those recommended in the Statement of Licensing Policy. The environmental protection team also said that granting the licence will likely have a negative impact on neighboring properties in the form of public nuisance. If the Sub-Committee were minded to grant the application, the representation said that additional conditions had been requested.

The licensing authority said their representation was based on all four of the licensing objectives and focuses on the excessive hours applied for in a residential area. They looked not just at the present makeup of the locality, but also the council’s future planned regeneration of the locale.

Thirteen other people submitted representations, many of which were templates of one another, but should still be considered as individual representations according to the report. The representations concerned the history of criminality and antisocial behaviour emanating from the premises. They also concerned the potential for regular noise disturbance as the premises is located close to residential dwellings.

Conciliation

All representations were sent to the applicant. Trading Standards withdrew their representation as additional conditions had been agreed. None of the other representations had been conciliated at the point of the report being written. The conditions requested in the representation from licensing had been accepted, but because of the long hours, the representation remained in place.

Premises History

The premises were previously licensed as a night club, called Club 701. The report pack details the premises' licensing history, including two occasions when the licence was reviewed.

The first review was in November 2019 when the Licensing Sub-Committee suspended the licence for 3 months, removed the designated premises supervisor and modified the conditions of the licence.

The second review was in February 2024 when the Licensing Sub-Committee revoked the licence.

Mr Eric Doe was the previous licence holder.