Agenda and minutes

The Democratic Services Officer advised the meeting of the procedure.

Apologies were received from Councillor Deirdre Horstmann. Councillor Anthony Clarke substituted.

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 Officeror a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

Councillor Clarke declared Other Interests as a member of the Campaign for Real Ale and as a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. He did not believe that these would impact on his ability to determine the application with an open mind.

There was none.

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

The Chair drew attention to the procedure to be followed for the next item of business.

Applicant: LAFATA Ltd, represented by Stefano Frigerio (Director and DPS) and David Holley (Licensing Agent).

The Other Person, Stephanie Brown, was not present and not represented.

The Applicant confirmed that he had received and understood the procedure to be followed for the hearing.

The Public Protection Officer summarised the application. This was an application for a new premises licence. The application sought authority for the sale of alcohol for consumption on and off the premises and the provision of Late Night Refreshment. The premises was situated within the Cumulative Impact Area. One representation had been received from an Other Person in relation to the licensing objectives of the prevention of public nuisance and the prevention of crime and disorder.

Mr Holley and Mr Frigerio stated the case for the applicant. Mr Holley said that he would examine the strength of the objections raised by the Other Person and endeavour to demonstrate that the applicant’s business would be a good and honest operation, which would add to the type and quality of refreshment currently available in Bath. He submitted that Mrs Brown’s representation gave a very general view of the impact of the concentration of licensed premises in the George Street area. He thought it was significant that neither the Circus Residents’ Association nor the Responsible Authorities had made representations to the application. He asked Mr Frigerio to provide a complete description of the business, to allow Members to judge its potential impact.

Mr Frigerio said that LAFATA owned four premises in London. The first had been in Covent Garden, the second in Brixton, the third in Greenwich and the fourth in Mercato Metripolitano, Newington Causeway. LAFATA was jointly owned by two families. The concept of champagne and cheese was unique, and this was the secret of their success. Similar concerns to those made in the representations to this application had been raised when it was proposed to open premises in Brixton, which is an area with many alcohol-related problems. But then it was understood that the concept of the business is quite different from that of the usual pub or restaurant. The focus is on champagne, which the management personally select and import. Mr Frigerio said that his wife is French and an expert on champagne. He believed champagne was best served with food, especially cheese. The business had been operating in London for six years. Because of the nature of the business, there was a new kind of customer. The premises in London had never received complaints about noise or alcohol-related bad behaviour by customers. The average age of customers was about thirty-five, and they were not motivated by drinking as much alcohol as possible. Their premises were not just restaurants, but also shops. Therefore they were open throughout the day, and did not just open at night to sell alcohol. The intention was to expand the shop at George Street into a kind of French market, where people could buy cheese and champagne and other things as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 70.