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RESOLVED:
 
The decision
 
The Licensing Sub-committee in considering
this decision from the information presented to it within the
report and at the hearing on 6th February 2024 has determined that
having regard to the promotion of all the licensing objectives:
 
· 
The prevention of crime and disorder;
· 
Public safety;
· 
Prevention of public nuisance;
· 
The protection of children from harm;
 
the application for a premises licence has
been refused in accordance with Licensing Policies LP1, LP2, and
LP3 within the Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy.
 
Reasons for the
decision
 
The Licensing Sub-committee, having heard and
carefully considered the  representations from the Licensing
Authority, the Metropolitan Police Service (“the
Police”) and Other Persons (local residents) believed that
granting the application would result in the licensing objectives
being undermined, and would have a negative impact on the area.
 
The Sub-committee took into account that the
Applicant had agreed conditions with the Environmental Protection
Team and they withdrew their objection.
 
The Sub-committee took into consideration the
written representations of 13 Other Persons (local residents) who
all objected on similar grounds, to this application due the impact
it would have on local residents as a result of anti-social
behaviour and the noise nuisance late at night. 
 
The Sub-committee took into consideration the
representations made by the local residents who attended the
hearing and maintained their objection to the
application.  The Sub-committee took
into account the concerns of local residents about public nuisance
and the impact of anti-social behaviour which they experienced. The
Sub-committee felt the local residents made a compelling case.
 
The Sub-committee carefully considered the
representations made by the Applicant’s legal representative,
and they noted that these representations did not directly address
or allay the concerns raised by the local residents, the Licensing
Authority and the Police. 
 
The Sub-committee felt that the Applicant
needed to take into consideration the impact the additional hours
would have on the local residents that live close to the
premises.
 
After carefully considering all the
representations and evidence from the Applicant’s legal
representative, the Licensing Authority, the Police and from local
residents the Sub-committee felt that the Applicant’s legal
representative had said nothing that gave them confidence about how
the premises would operate to avoid increased cumulative impact if
the premises licence was granted. The Sub-committee felt that the
Applicant had not addressed their concerns relating to the impact
the premises would have on local residents and the
area.  Indeed
the residents were able to point to examples of how the area had
been negatively impacted previously, prior to the pandemic, when
the premises were under different management and had similar late
openings. 
 
The Sub-committee, recognising that this
premises is surrounded by densely occupied residential buildings,
felt that the licensing objectives would be undermined, and they
took into consideration the representations from the Police and the
Licensing Authority. The Sub-committee took into account that
although there were 42 conditions proposed, many did not directly
address the remaining concerns of the responsible authorities nor
the residents, and both the Police and the Licensing Authority were
not persuaded by this and maintained their objections.
 
The Sub-committee took into consideration that
the Licensing Authority and the Police still had concerns that the
additional hours would have a negative impact on the area, and they
felt there would be no respite for local residents.
 
The Sub-committee took into account
representations from local residents that their sleep and wellbeing
was adversely affected by noise and disturbances in the middle of
the night from late night drinking. The Sub-committee felt that the
level of noise and anti-social behaviour from late night drinkers
was an ongoing concern and heard from both the Police and the
Licensing Authority that they intended to monitor this area more
closely in future. The Sub-committee took into consideration that
families were already severely affected in the area and that it
would be unacceptable to risk exacerbating this
further. 
 
The Sub-committee took into consideration that
the premises already had opening hours until 02:00.
 
The Sub-committee was not persuaded that it
was appropriate to increase the operating hours of the premises due
to the negative impact it would have on the residential area. The
Sub-committee felt that the additional hours would add to the
anti-social behaviour, crime and disorder, and unsupervised street
drinking in the area.
 
It was clear to the Sub-committee that the
Applicant had not fully considered the impact on the residential
area.  The Sub-committee felt that the
Applicant had done little to  engage with local residents and
substantially more would need to be done to fully understand and
mitigate their concerns.
 
The Sub-committee took into consideration when
refusing this application that each case is considered on its
merits. The Sub-committee believed that the licensing objectives
could not be promoted by granting this application for a premises
licence, and as such believed it was appropriate to refuse the
application in its entirety.