The report of the Head of Planning, Building Control and Licensing is enclosed and CCTV footage to be shown at the hearing as the representation against the Interim Measures.

Consideration was given to the report of the Head of Planning, Building Control and Licensing regarding a representation to the Interim Measures 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.

The PLH’s husband represented for the premises and addressed the Hearing Panel stating that the PLH had been in place at the Queens Hotel for 39 years without any incident or issues with their licence, adding that they had both put work into the venue for renovations and for the people of the surrounding estate, looking to engage young people and start a youth club and pool team to offer them something to get involved in. Regarding the incident, the representative stated that there were youths outside the premises on the day in question and that he and the PLH both had to leave for family purposes. They were both called after the incident and told that the premises would have to be closed for the remainder of the day and returned the following day and heard about the incident fully and the Interim Measures hearing. The representative explained that this had been the first request for CCTV they had received and that they are not technologically minded and were unable to provide the footage for the Interim Measures hearing. The representative confirmed that the footage was now available and this was shown to the Hearing Panel with the representative explaining certain aspects of what was visible.

The CCTV footage showed 5 or 6 youths entering the premises and proceeding to hide items under chairs and in the toilet (later discovered to be 87 individual bags of class-A drugs, a knife, walkie talkie and cases of spirits). Immediately after the youths entered, local community officers enter and are seen talking to bar staff and checking the toilets.

GMP addressed the Hearing Panel and stated that their view of the footage was that the youths appears calm and orderly in their actions, potentially showing that they were used to this scenario and possibly saw the premises as a place to regularly commit crime and sell drugs. This was a clear undermining of the Licensing Objectives and GMP stated that they could not see any other measures to be put in place aside from the current suspension of the premise’s licence, stating that to take no action should not be considered.

In summing up their case, GMP stated that the suspension should remain in place as serious crime had taken place at the premises.

In summing up their case, the representative stated that they had a clean record and were willing to work with GMP to resolve any issues but asked the Hearing Panel to remove the suspension to allow the business to run again and assist the estate in community and Christmas events.

In their deliberations, the Hearing Panel noted the serious nature of the incident and the amount of drugs seized, but felt that the PLH had 39 years unblemished service in a difficult setting within the estate and considered that, whilst the youths may be known to the premises, the PLH was not inviting such behaviour to occur there.

Decision

To withdraw the suspension with immediate effect pending the full Summary Review on 21 December 2021.