Now contains additional information submitted by the Premises Licence Holder.

The Hearing Panel considered a report from the Head of Planning, Building Control and Licensing.  The Hearing Panel also considered the written papers of the parties submitted and the oral representations of the parties who attended as well as the relevant legislation.

The Greater Manchester Police (GMP) representative addressed the Hearing Panel and requested that the Hearing Panel agree to the request for the exclusion of the public, for the reason that there is an ongoing serious crime investigation relating to the premises. The GMP representative stated that having the hearing in public may prejudice the ongoing investigation.

The Chair invited views of those present at the hearing.

In response, the Manchester Evening News representative observing the proceedings stated that the incidents are already in the public domain and further information could be redacted to prevent prejudice to the investigation.

The GMP representative added that the latest bundle issued by GMP had been confidential and unavailable for the public to see and that these papers would be referred to at the hearing today, therefore these papers were intrinsically linked to the decision to exclude the public.

The legal advisor to the Hearing Panel confirmed with GMP that the investigations were ongoing.

The Hearing Panel requested all parties and public to leave the meeting room and deliberated in private. All parties and public were readmitted to the meeting room and a proposal to exclude the press and public was agreed on the basis that it would be in the public interest to exclude the public under Regulation 14 of the Licensing Act 2003 (Hearings) Regulations 2005, as there was a possibility that the representations made, and evidence presented would prejudice the ongoing police investigations.

Following the exclusion of the public, GMP made a further request under Regulation 14 of the Licensing Act 2003 (Hearings) Regulations 2005, to exclude the partner of the PLH and DPS of The Queen’s Hotel on the grounds that he is a current live suspect in ongoing investigations and any questions he may answer today may constitute an unofficial PACE interview, potentially leading him to incriminate himself with any answers gave.

Mrs Flint’s partner addressed the Hearing Panel and stated that his partner, DPS and PLH of The Queen’s Hotel, is the current licensee and she has not been charged with any criminal activity, therefore, Mrs Flint would not be in the best position to answer any questions regarding incidents linked to the Summary Review hearing. Furthermore, he stated that they had prepared their statement together and agreed that he would present the case for The Queen’s Hotel, adding that Mrs Flint would not be in the best position to take on the process of the hearing. In addition, he confirmed that they had no legal representative and therefore could not rely on anyone else at the hearing.

The Hearing Panel requested that all non-excluded parties to the hearing leave the meeting room and deliberated in private. All non-excluded parties were readmitted to the meeting room and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

Now contains additional information submitted by GMP.

The Hearing Panel considered a report from the Head of Planning, Building Control and Licensing.  The Hearing Panel also considered the written papers of the parties submitted and the oral representations of the parties who attended as well as the relevant legislation.

The Greater Manchester Police (GMP) representative addressed the Hearing Panel and stated that the premises had their current licence since 2005. The PLH was Mr Andrew Mitchell and the premises had a newly appointed DPS following the incident leading to the review. The incident was a violent disturbance on Glendower Drive, outside The Vine pub. A firearm was discharged, a car was driven towards people and knives were used in the incident. During the events, 3 males left the premises armed with pool cues and a member of staff followed them to retrieve the pool cues. Meanwhile, the CCTV system behind the bar was removed. No explanation has been given to GMP on how, or why this happened or who removed the system. This is a serious concern to GMP.

Chris Grunert, the representative for The Vine addressed the Hearing Panel and apologised for Mr Mitchell’s absence, stating that he had a holiday booked prior to the hearing and was away. Mr Mitchell’s proxy was available to answer any operational question, should there be any need. Providing known details of the incident, the representative stated that the previous DPS, Mr Kevin Upton, was on the premises with his sister when the disturbance occurred. Mr Upton left to go to a cash and carry and returned at approximately 2:15pm to find a 4x4 blocking the car park and males arguing on site. Mr Upton checked the inside of the premises and made the decision to close the pub. Prior to this, 3 males had been on the premises, had been served with drinks and then left with pool cues. Mr Upton’s sister then left the premises to retrieve the pool cues and at was at this point that the CCTV system was taken. Mr Mitchell and GMP both concur that no violence occurred within The Vine during the incident. There were 30+ patrons on the premises at the time and there was no explanation of how the CCTV system was removed. The representative agreed that it was disturbing that this happened, stating that Mr Upton either doesn’t know or was hiding something. Either way, the representative stated that this was not satisfactory and confirmed that this informed the decision to remove Mr Upton from his position with no intention of him returning to his previous post. If Mr Upton had been intimidating into hiding information, he had been given opportunities to inform the PLH and GMP. Regarding ongoing operations at The Vine, the representative confirmed that the premises wished to continue trading with the updated CCTV system (images provided showed a locked area containing a locked box housing the system) and confirmed that this would also back up to an offsite “internet cloud.” Furthermore, Mr Mitchell as the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.