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

Consideration was given to the report of the Head of Planning, Building Control and Licensing regarding an Interim Steps hearing for Summary Review of the premises licence at Queens Hotel, Sedgeford Rd, Manchester M40 8QU.

The summary review was requested by GMP following an incident at the premises which took place on Wednesday 24 November 2021. The application was made under section 53(B) of the Licensing Act 2003.

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

GMP addressed the Hearing Panel to explain that a serious criminal incident had taken place at the premises. GMP confirmed that neighbourhood officers attended the premises on the evening of Wednesday 24 November 2021 and a number of people fled as officers approached. When officers entered the pub they found a large volume of bags of Class-A drugs made into individual deals, a knife, a walkie talkie and bottles of spirits hidden in and outside the premises. Officers approached the staff member on duty to ask that the premises close immediately and this request was complied with. GMP stated that this was a serious incident with potential gang links and requested that the Hearing Panel suspend the licence with immediate effect pending the full Summary Review.

In responding to questions from the Premises Licence Holder’s (PLH) husband (as representative), GMP stated that they had not been given any further information from the neighbourhood team.

The PLH’s representative addressed the Hearing Panel stating that the PLH had been in place since 1982 and that no other concerns had been levelled at the premises. The representative expressed that the family run pub did not have anything to do with crime or criminals and had been running the premises as a very community focussed space with events for youths in the area. Mention was given to the outside space at the premises being waste ground which attracted a bad crowd and that the premises would like to make changes but were not in control of the land. The representative expressed that the estate which housed the pub had its problems and that there were some locals that they would not allow on site. In relating to the incident, the representative stated that he and the PLH were off site at the time of the incident visiting families, but confirmed that the youths had run into the pub on seeing officers to use the back exit which was blocked. The representative stated that this gang then quickly dumped the drugs, knife, walkie talkie and boxes of spirits and ran out again.

In responding to questions from GMP, the representative stated that CCTV was installed in July 2021 but that they have never had to check the system and weren’t sure how to access to footage. The representative explained that they had arranged to take it back to their supplier to check but this had not been carried out yet.

In their deliberations, the Hearing Panel felt that the lack of CCTV footage left them in a position with no clear picture on what happened and considered that investigations were in their early stages and more information may come to light. To protect the family, staff and community of the area the Hearing Panel considered it necessary to suspend the licence pending the final review hearing.

Decision

To suspend the premises licence with immediate effect pending full Review to be heard on 21 December 2021.