Issue - meetings

PREMISES:    Eden Bistro, 1-3 Ashby Road, Moira

Swadlincote, DE12 6DJ

APPLICANT:   Mr Terence Olaf

To determine an application for a review of a premises licence in respect of the above.

Representations have been received from various parties. A notice of hearing inviting them to attend has been sent to each of them. If they fail to attend, the hearing can be held in their absence or adjourned.

The following documents are attached:-

a) Report of the Licensing Enforcement Officer.

At the beginning of the Hearing, the authority shall explain to the parties the procedure it is proposed to follow. The Hearing shall take the form of a discussion led by the authority and cross-examination shall not be permitted unless it is required to consider the representations.

It was agreed that time allowed for representations would be limited to 15 minutes.

The Licensing Officer presented his report and there were no questions.

The Environmental Protection Officer was invited to make his representation and outlined concerns around the licensing objective of causing a public nuisance being undermined. Concerns were expressed toward the level of noise which had been within very close proximity to residential properties in a 50m radius but some of which were as close as 7.5m away. A second concern regarding the fabric of the building and its ability to contain amplified music was raised, it was noted that the building had a lot of glass, which would not be a good insulator of sound.

The Environmental Protection Officer stated that he had put in a representation to the licence application which raised these concerns  and had also highlighted measures which could be implemented to mitigate potential problems. He stated he had approached the licence holder and at that time, the licence holder had been agreeable to these conditions but had later changed his mind. At the hearing, the licence was granted without the noise control measures, and it had been implied that the establishment would operate as a high end bistro and that music would not be the one of the main attractions.

The Environmental Protection Officer reported that after the licence was granted, Environmental Health began to receive noise complaints relating to the volume of indoor and outdoor music and of raised voices outside. Environmental Health carried out a series of visits to investigate these complaints and noted that even with doors and windows closed, the music was very loud and that there were speakers outside the premises. Whilst undertaking these visits, the Environmental Protection Officer reported that he was approached by the licence holder who stated that he thought, the Environmental Protection Officer, was “selling drugs”.

The Environmental Protection Officer stated that no application had been made to vary the licence and complaints were still being received, so he installed noise monitoring equipment in a neighbouring residential property which had provided evidence of noise. Evidence was also collected from Eden Bistro’s own Facebook page which indicated that it was not only a high end bistro as had been implied at the initial application. The videos showed an entertainer outside with a microphone and amplified speakers.

Following the representation of the applicant, questions were invited and the licence holder wished to enquire whether the 50m radius included the other local pub, The Rawdon Arms. Officers responded that it did, however on the occasions on which he had visited, the only noise was coming from the Eden Bistro.

The licensing solicitor asked for clarity on whether the proposed conditions related to live or recorded amplified music and officers responded that amplification did not matter and that, for example, live music with a guitar but no amplifier would still not be acceptable. This would also include background music in order to fully satisfy Environmental Health that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4