The Royal Borough of Greenwich Licensing Sub-Committee A met to consider an application to vary the premises licence for The Ship Public House at 205 Plumstead Common Road. The application requested the removal of a condition preventing patrons from taking drinks outside and the addition of off-sales of alcohol. Councillors Jit Ranabhat, Cathy Dowse and Ann-Marie Cousins were scheduled to be in attendance.

Variation of Premises Licence for The Ship Public House

The sub-committee was scheduled to consider an application by Prakash ('Tom') Patel on behalf of The Ship Bar & Restaurant Ltd to vary the premises licence for The Ship Public House.

The proposed variations included:

• Removing existing Condition 9 from Annex 2 of the premises licence, which states:

Patrons shall not be permitted to take drinks or glass containers outside the premises. This includes any patron who temporarily leaves the premises to smoke.

• Adding off-sales of alcohol as a licensable activity.

According to the report pack, a similar application had been refused by the licensing sub-committee on 16 September 2025, and this decision was subsequently appealed to the magistrates' court.

The applicant offered several conditions in their operating schedule, including:

• Clearing the external area of patrons by 21:00 every day.
• Limiting the number of patrons in the external area to 45 at any one time.
• Maintaining an acoustic lobby inside the main entrance.
• Monitoring the external area for noise levels and numbers.
• Restricting refuse and recycling disposal to between 08:00 and 23:00.
• Restricting deliveries to between 07:00 and 23:00.
• Prohibiting speakers in external areas.
• Having an operational Noise Management Plan approved by the Royal Borough of Greenwich Community Protection Team.

Greenwich Police Licensing and RBG Public Health had requested additional conditions, including using only polycarbonate glassware in the front courtyard and restricting off-sales of alcohol to the front courtyard. According to the supplementary agenda, the applicant agreed to these conditions.

The supplementary agenda also included two further conditions offered by the applicant:

• All external areas that form part of the pub's demise will be covered by CCTV.
• The licence holder will monitor the external area every half hour whenever regulated entertainment is performed from inside the premises and record the findings. The licence holder will adjust the volume of music inside the premises if the noise levels are likely to cause nuisance to neighbouring properties. These records will be made available to officers from responsible authorities upon request.

The report pack included a Noise Management Plan, which stated that all staff have a responsibility to ensure the venue does not cause a nuisance, and outlined measures to mitigate internal and external noise. It also included a Customer Dispersal Policy, detailing procedures for internal and external areas, and a quote for acoustic lobby installation.

Representations in support of and against the application were included in the report pack.

Licensing Sub-Committee Information

The report pack included general information about licensing sub-committees, including terms of reference, notice of hearings, and matters dealt with by the sub-committee. It also outlined what members must and should not take into account when determining licensing applications, as well as information on appeals against decisions.

Declarations of Interest

The committee was asked to note the list of councillors' memberships on outside bodies, joint committees and school governing bodies, and to declare any personal and financial interests in items on the agenda. A list of outside body memberships was included in the Outside Body Membership 2025-26 document.

The report pack defined personal and financial interests, and outlined when members must declare such interests and when they must leave the meeting.