The report of the Director of Planning, Building Control and Licensing is enclosed.

Consideration was given to a report of the Director of Planning, Building Control and Licensing regarding an application for a Premises Licence Variation.

The Hearing Panel considered the written papers, oral representations of all parties as well as the relevant legislation. The Hearing Panel noted that the premises is situated in a busy part of the city with a vibrant night time economy however it is also an area with a high crime rate in part due to the night time economy.

The Hearing Panel noted that there had been previous incidents at the premises within the last 12 months however, the Hearing Panel accepted that these incidents were minor and that the premises were well managed.

The Applicant informed the Panel that the intention behind the application was to retain existing customers past 04:00 and that it was not the premises intention to attract new customers during the requested extra hours. It was explained further by the premises Licence Holder that the benefit of this to the locality was that it would stagger the closing time as a nearby venue with a capacity of 600 also closed at 04:00 resulting, in occasion, on 1000 patrons exiting two premises within close proximity and at the same time.

The Premises Licence holder went on to state that the premises is sometimes quiet at 03:30 and would ideally attract some new customers after 04:00. Therefore, taking this into account, the Hearing Panel considered it appropriate to introduce a last entry time of 04:30 to allow patrons to make their way to the premises once other premises had closed at 04:00, but would prevent the premises from becoming a late night destination for patrons who had been drinking elsewhere in the city.

The Applicant informed the Hearing Panel that dispersal procedures would be changed if the variation was granted so that there would be two exits each manned by door supervisors. The Hearing Panel was told by Licensing Out Of Hours that the Responsible Authorities had not had sight of a documented dispersal policy. The Hearing Panel considered that given the locality and the busy nature of the premises that a documented policy was required in order to ensure the prevention of public nuisance.

Decision

To grant the application for variation of hours with the following conditions:-

1. There shall be no admittance of new customers to the premises after 04:30
2. There shall be a documented dispersal policy implemented at the premises, this policy is to be agreed by Licensing Out Of Hours and GMP