Issue - meetings

Daliah Barrett, Licensing Officer, introduced the report on an application for a new premises licence at Hanoi Pho café/restaurant, 1 Grand Parade N4. The report set out details of the application, the representations received and the planning history – it was noted that this was included by way of background information only, as planning issues had been raised in several of the representations received from local residents, however the Licensing Sub Committee noted that it could not take planning issues into account in reaching its decision on the application.

Ms Barrett advised that the conditions put forward by the applicant in their application did not adequately address the licensing objectives in relation to the sale of alcohol, and therefore proposed a number of additional conditions for the prevention of noise and vibration emanating from the premises, prevention of off sales of alcohol, limiting the sale of alcohol only to those seated within the premises and ancillary to a meal, preventing consumption of alcohol outside the premises and proposing a Challenge 25 scheme. The applicant had accepted the conditions put forward by the Police and Enforcement Response team in advance of the meeting. The Committee also noted in the final paragraph of section 3.1 of the report that the owner of the premises had been prosecuted by the Council’s Enforcement Response Team on the basis of nuisance from odour, and not the Commercial Environmental Health Team as stated.

Cllr Barbara Blake, St Ann’s Ward Councillor, and local residents addressed the Committee in objection to the application and raised the following points:

·         Residents had been badly affected by public nuisance associated with this premises; there were 6 flats with a total of 20 occupants directly above the premises, who had made complaints regarding the smell, noise, food hygiene and planning violations associated with Hanoi Pho. Neighbouring businesses, as well as residents in the flats above, were also reported to have been negatively affected by the actions of Hanoi Pho.

·         The owner of the premises was felt to have acted with no regard to planning regulations or the concerns of local residents, and residents therefore doubted the premises’ commitment to abiding by any conditions on a licence for the sale of alcohol.

·         The premises had been subject to abatement and enforcement notices in the past, and Cllr Blake gave a summary of some of these issues. Following a prosecution by the Enforcement Response team in January 2017, the owner had promised to make improvements but nothing had changed.

·         The owner of the premises was an experienced business-owner and had at least one other premises operating within London, it was therefore felt that things should not have been permitted to escalate to the level they had before being addressed and attempts should have been made to engage with local residents regarding their concerns at an earlier stage.

·         Residents advised that there were still enforcement issues that needed to be addressed, and that these had affected them badly.

·         Residents noted that a condition on a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7