Issue - meetings

PREMISES: Bucko’s Bar, Queen’s Street, Measham, DE12 7JE.

APPLICANT: Mr Adam Buck

To determine an application for a new premises licence in respect of the

above.

Four representations have been received. 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.

The Chairman introduced the parties in attendance and outlined the procedure to be followed.

The Hearing Regulations 2005 stated that the Authority must allow parties an equal period of time in which to present their evidence. It was agreed that maximum time limit for each presentation would be 10 minutes.

Tonya Cooper, Licensing Enforcement Officer, presented the report to Members, highlighting the licensable activity applied for, the licensing objectives, Licensing Policy and representations received. Officers confirmed they were satisfied that correct notification procedures had been followed.

It was noted that the premises had been operating under a club premises certificate and in the history of the club’s operation, only two complaints had been received, both of which had been quite far in the past. It was also highlighted that no responsible authorities had made representations although four representations had been received from members of the public.

Mr A Buck, applicant, was invited to make his representations. Mr Buck informed the panel that the club had been operational for many years and that since he had taken over, he had introduced a series of improvements and had made positive changes, for example CCTV, new gates and security lights. The applicant stated that he had been willing to take all comments on board which local residents had raised with him and wished to notify the panel that as well as having trained bar staff, he had also employed an ex doorman in order to manage customers during events. It was noted that there had been a child free area designated and that children were to be accompanied by appropriate adults in other areas.

The applicant said that his staff had recently started to sweep the street outside of the bar, and that he would not and did not allow customers to stand and smoke at the front of the premises.

The applicant stated that he would prefer to hold a premises licence, as opposed to a club premises certificate and confirmed that he was already the holder of a personal licence. The applicant expressed a wish to keep the club going.

A member asked whether a different use for the bar had been proposed  compared with its previous use. The applicant responded that he would actually be applying to open later in the afternoon, and that he still intended to continue with the activities which had proved to be popular within the local community, for example bingo, and he also stated that the venue had always had music. It was asserted that nothing would be changing essentially except for the name of the venue.

A member asked for clarification on whether the venue would be run as a pub or a club and the applicant responded that this would be something which he still had to finalise the details for, however indicated that he did wish to retain many of the features of a club, and would ask people to apply for membership and would be keeping a register of members and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4