Now contains new information from the Licensing Out of Hours Compliance Team.

Consideration was given to a report of the Head of Planning, Building Control and Licensing regarding a Premises Licence Review.

The Hearing Panel considered the written papers, oral representations of all parties as well as the relevant legislation and guidance.

The Licensing Out Of Hours Compliance Team (LOOH) had applied for the review and a spokesperson from this team addressed the Hearing Panel. LOOH stated that they had applied for the review after complaints were received from nearby residents regarding noise and disturbance at dispersal times. LOOH attended to visit the premises on various occasions (dating back to January 2020) and found multiple breaches of their licensing conditions at each visit. Breaches included loud music, drinking, patrons urinating on the street, children present and payments being taken, all after the terminal hour. One of the incidents had been after a Temporary Event Notice (TEN) had been refused and LOOH had attended to find that the event appeared to have taken place despite the TEN being refused. When LOOH had requested CCTV footage from these breaches they found they had been given the wrong date, that there were gaps in the footage and also on one occasion that the footage was not available, which was a serious breach of the premises licence conditions. LOOH had also not been given access to training files upon request which was another serious breach of the licensing conditions. Notably, LOOH were concerned that the premises had still committed breaches of their licensing conditions since being aware that the review had been submitted.

The Premises Licence Holder (PLH) attended with a representative from HR and address the Hearing Panel stating that the incident whereby the TEN was refused on 31 July 2021 and people were still on site at the premises was due to the relaxation of lockdown rules and customers having their first opportunity to socialise. The PLH stated that this made it more difficult to enforce the dispersal of their patrons. THE PLH stated that they had now put a dispersal policy in place and a full training pack. Regarding CCTV and the missing footage, the PLH said they could not explain this, that it was not deleted by any staff and added that they had now further upgraded the facility to include recording to “the cloud.” Weekly checks of the CCTV system were stated as being in place at the premises. A cleaning schedule and bin collection service had been put in place also. The DPS concluded by stating that she was new to running a business, as well as the DPS role and appreciated the help and advice that LOOH had offered since starting up in October 2019.

The HR representative stated that they were looking to amend the condition relating the terminal hour for children on the premises to be amended after the review hearing.

During questioning from LOOH and the Hearing Panel, the DPS and their HR representative stated that they had SIA door staff on 31 July 2021 and they were still unable to disperse the remaining 20 people between midnight and 01:30, that they had not given themselves enough lead-up time to address all potential issues in hindsight, that DPS training had been undertaken in March 2020 and that the DPS could not recall the 4 licensing objectives.

In their summary, LOOH stated they would be content for the premises to continue operating with some further additional conditions.

During their deliberations, the Hearing Panel considered that the premises had consistently been in breach of conditions but had been working with LOOH to improve their operations and agreed that the additional conditions proposed by LOOH would give the business a chance to continue trading and prove their intentions. The Hearing Panel added a further condition regarding children on the premises and amended this condition to allow children to be present until 22:00 on Friday and Saturday.

Decision

To modify the conditions on the licence as follows:

Sale of Alcohol

Sunday to Thursday 12:00 to 22:00 hours

Friday to Saturday 12:00 to 23:00 hours

Regulated Entertainment

Sunday to Thursday 12:00 to 22:00 hours

Friday to Saturday 12:00 to 23:00 hours

Non-standard timings to be removed save for New Years Eve

Opening hours

Sunday to Thursday 12:00 to 23:00 hours

Friday to Saturday 12:00 to 00:00 hours

And subject to the following amendments to existing conditions:-

1.    Before making sales of alcohol, staff shall be trained in the laws relating to under age sales, and that training shall be documented and repeated at 6 monthly intervals (condition 8)

2.    Noise from amplified music shall not be such as to cause a noise nuisance to occupants of nearby premises at all times including deregulated hours (condition 17)

3.    Windows and doors shall be closed, except for access and egress, at all times including deregulated hours (condition 23)

4.    Speakers and entertainment stands shall be positioned away from walls adjacent to residential properties at all times including deregulated hours (condition 26)

5.    Documented records of training completed shall be kept for each member of staff. Training shall be regularly refreshed and at no greater than 6 monthly intervals. Training records shall be kept on the premises and made immediately available for inspection upon request by a police officer or an authorised officer of Manchester City Council (condition 35)

6.    Children shall only be allowed from 12:00 to 20:00 hours Sunday to Thursday and from 12:00 to 22:00 hours Friday to Saturday. Notices shall be put up to inform customers (condition 31)

In addition to the above conditions, the Premises Licence Holder will have a written dispersal policy to be agreed with the LOOH department and will be submitted to the premises licensing team within 14 days from the determination of the hearing.