Meeting documents

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no Declarations of Interests.

The Chairman introduced the parties and explained the procedure to be followed.

The Licensing Enforcement Officer presented the report to members as set out in the agenda.

In response to questions from the members the Licensing Enforcement Officer confirmed the other main licensed premiseses within Ashby Town Centre and that there was one premises that was currently closed, but was expected to re open in the near future, however no firm date was given. He also confirmed that in the past the Police had objected to Temporary Event Notice in the saturation area in repsect of Takeaways, but was not aware of any relating to Licensed Premises.

There were no questions from the applicants or the Police.

The Police began to introduce information with regards to a previous application that was refused relating to the premises back in 2005. As this was new information that had not been submitted, The Legal Advisor asked the applicant if they were happy for this to be included. The applicant did not give permission for this to be included and therefore the committee were asked by the Legal Advisor to disregard the information given by the Police.

The Police asked the committee to consider whether allowing the notice for the event would promote or undermine crime prevention. He advised the committee that the local Police Officers clearly belived that the extended hours would add to the number of people on the street and with a reduction on the annual budget for Leicestershire Police, this would be added pressure to an already streatched team. The police advised the committee that there had been no suggestion from the applicant that they would be willing to pay for extra policing.

Following questions from members the police informed the committee that it was common practice for applicants to provide funding towards extra policing. They informed te committee that fights did arupt most weekends, but they could confrim that there were no problems reported with regards to the premises in question and that they had very good door staff.

In response to a question from a member the Licensing Enforcement Officer provided the committee with the capacity of the other licensed premises in the area covered by the saturation policy which had been referred to in the Police objection.

Following questions from the applicant, the police confirmed that the Police may not have objected to previous TEN applications in Ashby due to the short notice period that was available for the Chief of Police to respond to such notices. They also advised that it would be unusual for all the main licensed premises in the area to be "rammed to capacity".

Following a question from members the applicant advised the committee that any previous TEN's that had been applied for were until 2am, the pub had not been busy and that it was a one-off and not a view to be extended.

There were no questions from the Licensing Enforcement Officer.

The applicant informed the committee that they were requesting an extension of one hour only. The pub was still very busy at 1pm, more so with customers dancing rather drinking and would like to allow the customers to finish the evening off in the pub rather than go to a neighbouring premises. She advised the Committee that they currently used 3 door staff, had CCTV monitoring and police radio access to help with the prevention of Crime and Disorder. She also informed the committee that the pub operated both ID checking and drunk person policies and had never failed underaged tests. She also advised the committee that when there had been an incident where a police officer, on their own, dealing with an issue, the door staff from the pub would have assisted the officer if the pub had been open, but it was not.

The Legal Advisor asked the applicant to confirm to the committee how they would operate under the Temporary Event Notice as this was seperate to the Premises Licence.

The applicant advised the committee that they would have three door staff available until the premises closed. CCTV and radio monitoring would be used along with the ID checking and drunk person policies.

Following questions form members the applicant advised the committee that in the past the pub had stayed open til 3am on New Years Eve and there had never been any issues and that they felt that they had a very good working relationship with the local police officers. The applicant informed the committee that the notices were in two different names as the manager would be on leave on the fourth date and therefore would like to ensure that the notice was in the name of the duty manager on the date of the event.

The Police asked the applicant why, if there was such a good relationship between them and the police, had they not withdrawn the applications in view of the comments from the Local Police Officers. The applicant felt that it was not appropriate.

There were no questions from the Licensing Enforcement Officer.

Closing Speeches

The Police asked the committee to have regard to their objection and their concerns over the incidents that regulary take place at closing time.

The Applicant advised the committee that the pub was very well run and that they also tried to promote all the Licensing objectives. She also informed the committee that there was no eviendence to support that the pub had issues.


At 3.35pm the Sub Committee adjourned to consider its decision. The meeting reconvened at 5.05pm.