Content

Notification of
decision following a Licensing Panel hearing to determine an
application for a premises licence under section 17 of the
Licensing Act 2003
 
PREMISES:
Sam’s Waterside, 6 Brent Way, Brentford TW8 9AG
 
APPLICANT: Genuine
Restaurants Limited
 
TAKE NOTICE THAT ON 2nd
October 2023 following a hearing before the Licensing and General
Purposes Sub Committee (the “Licensing Panel” or
“Panel”), HOUNSLOW COUNCIL, as the
Licensing Authority for the Premises RESOLVED that:
 
the application for
the grant of the Premises Licence for Sam’s Waterside, 6
Brent Way, Brentford TW8 9AG was GRANTED, in respect of the
following:
 
Supply of Alcohol for
consumption on and off the premises
Monday to Thursday
09:00 to 00:00
Friday to Saturday
09:00 to 00:30
Sunday 09:00 to
23:30
 
Seasonal variation:
New Year’s Eve – to provide licensable activities until
02:00am the following morning
 
Late Night Refreshment -
indoors
Monday to Thursday
23:00 to 00:00
Friday to Saturday
23:00 to 00:30
Sunday 23:00 to
23:30
 
Seasonal variation:
New Year’s Eve – to provide licensable activities until
02:00am the following morning
 
 
The Opening Hours of the
premises
Monday to Thursday
09:00 to 00:30
Friday to Saturday
09:00 to 01:00
Sunday 09:00 to
00:00 00
 
Seasonal variation:
New Year’s Eve – to stay open until 02:00am the
following morning.
 
 
With the following
conditions:
 
1)      
The premises shall install and maintain a
comprehensive CCTV system as per the minimum requirements of the
London Borough of Hounslow Police Licensing Team. All entry and
exit points will be covered enabling frontal identification of
every person entering in any light condition. The CCTV system shall
continually record whilst the premises is open for licensable
activities and during all times when customers remain on the
premises. All recordings shall be stored for a minimum period of 31
days with date and time stamping. Viewing of recordings shall be
made available immediately upon the request of Police or authorised
officer throughout the entire 31-day period.
 
2)      
A staff member from the premises who is conversant
with the operation of the CCTV system shall be
on the premises at all times when the premises are open.
This staff member must be with the absolute minimum of delay when
requested.
 
3)      
An incident log shall be kept at the premises and
made available on request to an authorised officer of the London
Borough of Hounslow or the Police. It must be completed within 24
hours of the incident and will record the following:
(a) all crimes reported
to the venue
(b) all ejections of
patrons
(c) any complaints
received concerning crime and disorder
(d) any incidents of
disorder
(e) all seizures of
drugs or offensive weapons
(f)   any faults in the CCTV system, searching equipment
or scanning equipment
(g) any refusal of the
sale of alcohol
(h) any visit by a
relevant authority or emergency service.
 
4)      
No noise generated on the premises, or by its
associated plant or equipment, shall emanate from the premises. Nor
shall any vibration be transmitted through the structure of the
premises which gives rise to a nuisance.
 
5)      
Notices shall be prominently displayed at all exits
requesting patrons to respect the needs of local residents and businesses and leave the area
quietly.
 
6)      
No smells generated from the cooking processes at
the Premises shall give rise to nuisance to occupiers of
neighbouring properties.
 
7)      
No waste or recyclable materials, including bottles,
shall be moved, removed from or placed
in outside areas between 22:00 hours and 08:00 hours on the
following day.
 
8)      
No deliveries to the premises shall take place
between 22.00 and 08.00 on the following day.
 
9)      
A Challenge 25 proof of age scheme shall be operated
at the premises where the only acceptable forms of identification
are recognised photographic identification cards, such as a driving
licence, passport or proof of age card
with the PASS (Proof of Age Standards Scheme) Hologram.
 
10)   
Substantial food and non-intoxicating beverages,
including drinking water, shall be available in all parts of the
premises where alcohol is sold or supplied for consumption on the
premises.
 
11)   
Alcohol consumed outside the premises building shall
only be consumed by patrons seated at tables.
 
12)   
All tables and chairs shall be removed (or rendered
unusable) from the outside area by 22:30 Monday to Saturday and
22:00 on Sundays.
 
13)   
The means of escape provided for the premises shall
be maintained unobstructed, free of trip hazards, be immediately
available and clearly identified in accordance with the plans
provided.
 
14)   
On the morning that Greenwich Mean Time changes to
British Summer Time one hour will be added to the terminal hour of
any activities and to the closing time for the premises where the
existing terminal hour for the activities and/or closing hour for
the premises ends after 01.00.
 
REASONS:
 
The Panel convened for an in-person hearing to
determine an application from Genuine Restaurants Limited in
respect of Sam’s Waterside, 6 Brent Way, Brentford TW8 9AG
(the “Premises”) which is a new restaurant
business in a new development that is in an area of mixed
residential and commercial units.  
The Premises themselves were yet to open and are in a newly
constructed block with commercial units, including the Premises, on
the ground floor and residential units above.
 
The application setting out the hours applied
for and proposed conditions are set out
in Appendix A to the Agenda.  The
Applicant sought a licence for late night refreshment (indoors) and
for the sale of alcohol for consumption on and off the
Premises.  The Applicant sought for
licensing hours to terminate at 00:00 on Monday to Thursday, 00:30
on Friday and Saturday and 23:30 on Sundays.  The proposed closing times were 30 minutes
thereafter.
 
The Licensing Panel carefully considered all
the relevant information including:
 
·      
Written and oral representations made by the parties
·      
The Licensing Act 2003 and the steps appropriate to promote the
licensing objectiives
·      
The Guidance issued under section 182 of the Licensing Act 2003
(the “Guidance”)
·      
Hounslow Council’s Licensing Policy 2020-2025 (the
“Policy”)
·      
The Human Rights Act 1998
 
The Licensing Authority received four
representations from residents within the block in which the
Premises are situated, and these are set out in Appendix
B.  In short, the residents were
concerned about the licensing and opening hours applied for by the
Applicant, which they considered to finish too late and may give
rise to a public nuisance.
 
The Licensing Enforcement Team did not make a
formal representation following agreement of proposed conditions
for this application.  This is confirmed
at Appendix C.  The Planning Team had
made a representation, in which they set out the current business
hours permitted for the Premises as part of the planning condition,
which was to reduce any noise nuisance for the residents in the
block.
 
The Licensing Authority also received a
representation from Councillor Dan Browning in support of the
application, which was included in the Supplemental Agenda
papers.
 
At the hearing Mr Sam Harrison of the
Applicants was in attendance along with his business
partner.  Councillor Browning also
attended and none of the objectors were present.
 
Mr Harrison stated that the Premises was the
latest business they were seeking to establish, having operated
other businesses in Hammersmith and Chiswick and another business,
Sam’s Larder, which was around the corner from the
Premises.  He stated that they sought to
attract a more high-end clientele and had never had any issues with
any of their businesses and if there were any they would deal with it. 
 
He informed the Panel that the residents who
occupied the flats above the Premises knew they were buying above
shop premises, and the Panel was referred to the additional work
they had carried out to reduce the level of noise and vibration
from the Premises, which is also outlined on page 4 of the
Supplemental Agenda papers.  This
included using noise absorbing materials, to only play music for
background purposes, having acoustic hoods on speakers, placing
plant equipment on vibration mounts, awnings over the terrace
seating, and to close the windows after 10.30pm to prevent noise
from the Premises.   In
questioning, the Panel was informed that the “windows”
they say they will be closing after 10.30pm are the bi-folding
doors shown on the Premises plan attached to the application,
although they said they might leave a couple of the doors open
during summer to assist with ventilation even though the Premises
has air conditioning.
 
Mr Harrison stated that he felt the hours they
had originally applied for were fair but
he had offered reduced hours to the objectors if that assisted with
the application.  Upon requesting
clarification as to which hours the
Applicant was now requesting, Mr Harrison confirmed it was the
original hours as set out in the application.
 
Upon further questioning, Mr Harrison
confirmed that anyone smoking would need to go outside the
Premises, but he would need to check the position with the
developer.  In respect of the
representation from the Planning Team, the Panel was informed the
Applicant had made an application for a non-material amendment
(“NMA”) to the planning permission, which was
yet to be determined.
 
With regard to the
Applicant seeking to allow off-sales as well, the Applicant stated
that this was to allow customers to purchase bottles of wine from
the Premises.
 
Councillor Browning also spoke to the Panel,
expressing his support for the application.  He stated that he thought the Applicant was a good
business operator and this would not be a raucous bar or club, and
this would be a good business for the area.
 
Decision
 
The Panel carefully considered the written and
oral representations from all parties in this matter, along with
the conditions offered by the Applicant and agreed with the
Licensing Authority.  
 
The Panel noted the concerns of the objectors,
which were mainly concerned about the potential for noise nuisance
and disruption caused by customers arising from the late opening
hours sought by the Applicant.  As for
the application itself, if proposed conditions that would include
the implementation and use of a CCTV system, an incident log, the
use of a Challenge 25 scheme, and restrictions on the times during
which deliveries could be made or waste / recyclables
deposited.  Any alcohol consumed in the
outside areas could only be by customers seated at a table, and
those tables and chairs were to be removed, or rendered unusable by
22:30 on Monday to Saturday and by 22:00 on Sunday, meaning the
outside areas should be cleared of customers by that
time.  There are also proposed
conditions restricting any vibration and smells from emanating from
the Premises and signs were proposed to remind customers to leave
the area quietly.
 
This was in addition to further noise
mitigation measures that the Applicant said they would be seeking
to implement, such as the installation of further noise absorbing
materials, speaker hoods, awnings and the closure of the
windows/bi-folding doors by 22:30. 
Whilst these additional measures were not proposed as conditions by
the Applicant, the Panel believed that the Applicant was seeking to
be a responsible operator and was conscientious of nearby
residents.
 
The Panel noted the representation from the
Planning Team and that the current planning permission had limits
on the times during which the Premises would be able to
operate.  The Panel noted that the
Applicant was seeking a NMA to the existing planning permission,
which may or may not be successful, and the Applicant was reminded
that they are required to comply with any planning conditions or
restrictions that are in effect regardless of the outcome of this
licensing application.
 
Taken altogether, the Licensing Panel believed
that the proposed conditions on top of the other noise and
vibration mitigation measures planned by the Applicant, were
sufficient to satisfy the licensing objectives. 
 
The Panel noted that the Applicant had sought
the licensing hours originally applied for, even though the
correspondence appeared to show it had indicated to the objectors
they would agree to reduce these hours and the hours were also
beyond the Core Hours as set out in the Policy.  In the end, it was up to the Licensing Panel to
decide the terms on which this application was to be determined and
the Policy also states that later hours can be considered where an
applicant has identified any risk that may undermine the promotion
of the licensing objectives and has put in place robust measures to
mitigate those risks.  For the reasons
given above, in this particular instance
the Panel was of the opinion that the Applicant had identified the
potential risk and was proposing to implement measures to mitigate
those risks together with proposed conditions that would also help
to mitigate that risk.  In consequence
of this, the Panel was minded to agree
the original hours applied for by the Applicant.
 
Therefore, the Licensing Panel decided to
GRANT this application with the hours applied for and with the
conditions agreed between the Applicant and Licensing Team as set
out at Appendix C of the Agenda report (and as set out at the
beginning of this decision).
 
Right of Appeal
 
Any party aggrieved with the decision of the
Licensing Panel on one or more grounds set out in Schedule 5 of
Licensing Act 2003 may appeal to the local Magistrate’s Court
within 21 days of notification of this decision.