Agenda item

Applicant: Arron Whan (DPS and Manager), John Revell (Company Secretary)

Other Persons: Eric Howard, Susan Williams

The parties confirmed that they had received and understood the procedure to be followed for the hearing.

The Senior Public Protection officer summarised the application. She explained that the applicant was seeking to vary the current premises licence as set out in paragraph 5.3 of the report. Representations received from the Other Persons related to the licensing objective of the prevention of public nuisance. She invited the Sub-Committee to determine the application.

Mr Whan addressed the Sub-Committee. He said that The Bell was known as a music venue and that it also held fund raising events. He said that there were no drink promotions at the premises, that they take an active role in the Challenge 21 programme and that signs are in place in order to ask customers to leave the premises quietly.

He added that he had received no complaints regarding the conduct of the premises and that the variation would not have a negative effect on the area.

He said he had written to local residents regarding the application and had met with some of them as part of the process.

Mr Revell addressed the Sub-Committee. He stated that The Bell was a professionally managed premises that since 2013 has been owned by a co-operative of 534 members. He added that the nine person Board of Directors meets on a monthly basis and that there contact details were available on their website.

In response to questions from Members Mr Whan stated that:

·  Chilled out music would be played by DJ’s if the extended time were granted.

·  The garden area would be monitored.

Eric Howard addressed the Sub-Committee. He said that the Paragon acted as a natural amplifier to noise within the area and that he could hear music from The Bell inside his home. He stated that he did not believe that the music played by the DJ’s would be quiet.

In response to questions from Members Mr Howard stated that:

·  He had not made any complaints regarding noise to the Council.

·  He had complained to the premises regarding noise on New Year’s Eve.

·  The Bell was an asset to the area, but there was no need for any later hours.

Susan Williams addressed the Sub-Committee. She said that she had complained to the manager regarding the same New Year’s Eve as Mr Howard and the level of noise from the premises.

In response to questions from Members Susan Williams stated that:

·  She had phoned Environmental Health on New Year’s Eve at 1.30am as she could not sleep. The music stopped at 2.30am.

·  Recently she felt that the music had been getting louder.

·  In her opinion the manager was not bothered by the complaints of residents.

Following an adjournment the Sub-Committee RESOLVED to grant the variation with modifications as detailed below.

Decision and reasons

Members have today determined an application to vary a premises licence at The Bell, Walcot Street, Bath. In doing so they have taken into consideration the Licensing Act 2003, Statutory Guidance, the Council’s Policy and the Human Rights Act 1998.

Members are aware that the proper approach under the Licensing Act is to be reluctant to regulate in the absence of evidence and must only do what is appropriate and proportionate in the promotion of the licensing objectives based on the information before them. Members noted that the application should be considered on its own merits and that the premises are within the Cumulative Impact Area. Accordingly there is a presumption that such applications should be refused unless the applicant demonstrates that they are unlikely to add significantly to the Cumulative Impact already experienced. 

Members were careful to take account of the relevant written and oral representations and were careful to balance their competing interests.

The Applicant

The application was for a variation to the premises licence to:

• Extend the sale of alcohol on Friday and Saturday by 1 hour from 23:00hrs to 00:00
• Extend the opening times on Friday from 00:00 to 00:45hrs
• Extend the playing of recorded music on Friday and Saturday from 23:00 to 00:15hrs
• Remove the condition in Annex 1 relating to the Public Entertainment Licence
• Remove the Annex 2 condition relating to the playing of live music in the garden

The applicant stated this was a community pub and they had consulted widely on the application with neighbours and responsible authorities. The pub supports a number of community events and the application would further these. A number of conditions were put forward to address the concerns of the neighbours. It was stated that the pub wishes to be a good neighbour and is owned by a cooperative of 500 members with strong links to the community.

Interested Parties

The interested parties stated noise is a problem as the architecture of the area acts to amplify noise and noise can be heard in side their own homes. The pub is very loud with lots of loud speakers. It was stated that although the premises are well run there is a problem with noise from the garden and music and if the application is granted the problem will get worse.

Members

Members are aware that the premises are located in the Cumulative Impact Area and were mindful that the Licensing Authority may not reduce the rights granted by the existing premises licence.

Whilst Members noted that since 2012 there have been no formal complaints to the licensing authority and no Responsible Authorities had objected to the variation residents were affected by music emanating from the premises.

In reaching their decision Members noted that in relation to paragraph 9.42 of the Statutory Guidance their determination should be evidence-based, justified as being appropriate for the promotion of the licensing objectives and proportionate to what it is intended to achieve.

Accordingly, Members removed the Annex 1 condition relating to the Public Entertainment Licence as the legislation had been repealed and the condition was no longer relevant. Members also removed the Annex 2 condition as the licence does not permit the playing of Live Music in the garden and therefore this condition was no longer relevant.

Members granted the 45 minutes of additional opening time on Fridays, and the additional 1 hour for the sale of alcohol.

With regards to recorded music members granted an additional 30 minutes on Fridays and Saturdays believing that the conditions offered by the applicant would deal with the issue of public nuisance and 30 minutes is a reasonable period of extension in the circumstances rather than the 75 minuets applied for.

Accordingly, Members considered that this variation would not have a significant detrimental effect on the cumulative impact area and they delegate authority to the licensing officer to issue the licence.