Agenda and minutes

The Democratic Services Officer read out the procedure.

RESOLVED that a Vice-Chair was not required on this occasion.

There were none.

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting. Members are asked to indicate:

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest,  (as defined in Part 2, A and B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officer before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

There were none.

There was none.

These were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Chair drew attention to the licensing procedure, copies of which had been made available to those attending the meeting.

Applicant:  Greene King Retailing Ltd, represented by Matthew Phipps (TLT Solicitors), Simeon Baker (Development Manager, Greene King), Alex Tryfonos (Mezze Restaurants, DPS)

Other Person : Mr John Bishop

The licensing officer summarised the application. She said this was quite a complex variation and, for the sake of clarity, read out all the proposed changes. She asked members to note that no changes were proposed to regulated entertainment outside the premises. She reported that representations had been received from Other Persons in relation to the licensing objectives of the prevention of crime and disorder and the prevention of public nuisance; only one of the Other Persons had been able to attend today’s hearing. She circulated a document tabulating all the proposed changes.

Mr Phipps stated the case for the applicant. He said that that last year statutory provisions relating to live music in licensed premises had been amended, so that now a premises licence automatically conferred the right for live music up to 23.00. This would be sufficient for the applicant, who would accordingly withdraw the part of the application relating to live music. In fact, he said, there would probably not be live music at the premises very often at all. In business terms the extended hours were most important for Fridays and Saturdays and less so for Sundays to Thursdays, though the applicant was not withdrawing this part of the application.

Mr Phipps noted that none of the Other Persons had objected to the proposed change to the layout of the premises. The applicant, Greene King, was leasing the premises to Mezze Restaurants, who were proposing to invest a significant amount. A copy of the full-size floor plan was provided to members by the Licensing Officer. Referring to the plan, Mr Phipps said that it should be envisaged that most of the floor area would be filled with tables and chairs. Without the change to the plan of the premises, Mezze’s proposal could not go ahead.

Mr Phipps said that Greene King operated a risk-register system in which problems relating to their premises were logged and addressed by additional measures until they were resolved.

Mr Phipps noted that none of the Responsible Authorities had made representations to the application.

Mr Phipps stated that Mezze Restaurants already operate premises in Downend, Thornbury and Congresbury exactly as they planned to operate the Warwick Arms. The premises would have eight guest rooms, including two family rooms and breakfast would be served. New premises at Portishead would be opened later in the year. He believed that the phrase “community pub” encapsulated what Mezze Restaurants was all about; they specifically sought premises outside cities and their clientele was not drawn from far and wide but from the surrounding community. He stated that Mr Tryfonos would be in attendance at the premises continuously for the first three months after Mezze had begun their operation there. He stated that all the other premises operated by Mezze are cheek by jowl with residential premises and that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.