Agenda and minutes

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Noted.

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no items of urgent business.

No declarations of interest were made.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting of the Licensing Sub Committee B held on 1^st August 2019.

Resolved

That the minutes of the meeting held on the 1^st August 2019 be approved as a correct record of the meeting.

The Chair outlined the summary of procedure.

To consider an application for a new licence to allow licensable activity namely, the sale of alcohol at the retail unit. The premises holds an existing licence for 642 Lordship Lane but the application before the LSC is for a new licence seeking to incorporate an additional shop unit at 660 Lordship Lane, N22.

Licensing Officer

The Licensing Officer introduced the application which had been submitted by Mr Huseyin Sesen for a new licence to allow licensable activity namely, the sale of alcohol at the retail unit. The premises holds an existing licence for 642 Lordship Lane but the application before the LSC was for a new licence seeking to incorporate an additional shop unit.

Representations against the application had been received from residents, the local ward councillors, as well as Public Health and Licensing Authority Responsible Authorities.

Following a question from the Committee regarding page 51, the Licensing Officer confirmed that the restriction of the ‘sale of strong beer/lager and cider’ should be 6.5%, and not 5.5% as erroneously stated in that email.

Ward councillors

Councillor Peter Mitchell spoke on behalf of the ward councillors. The ward councillors received a number of complaints relating to the area in which the premises was located along Lordship Lane. It was highlighted that complaints included:

• Groups of men hanging around drinking and/or smoking, particularly around betting shops. It was noted the premises in the application was next door to a betting shop.
• Street drinkers made Lordship Lane an unpleasant area for locals.

Councillor Mitchell stated the Council should be supporting The Friends of Chapman’s Green and claimed local residents did not feel safe in Chapman’s Green, due to the congregation of gangs of men drinking, smoking, littering and urinating in the Green. The Councillor claimed that premises, such as the one in question, with 24 hour operating licenses exacerbated the problems which included 18 harassments being reported to the Metropolitan Police in July 2019 alone.

The Committee were reminded by the Councillor that Haringey Council policy stated that where any residential area was adversely affected by drinking, there was an assumption that premises in that area would have supply of alcohol limited to between 8am to 11pm Sunday to Thursday, and between 8am to 12am on Friday and Saturday.

Following a question by the Committee, the Licensing Officer noted that Lordship Lane to Chapman’s Green had issues with street drinking. An action plan had been put in place address the issue of street drinking along Lordship Lane but the Licensing Officer noted that Chapman’s Green was not included in any street drinking zone. The issue of drinking in Chapman’s Green was an issue that had come to light following that action plan being created, but it was being addressed.

Following a question by the Committee, Councillor Mitchell confirmed that the ward councillor’s objection was to the application for 24 hour supply of alcohol. He noted that summer was a particularly difficult time for residents around Chapman’s Green with drinking in the park at its worse during that period, due to the park rangers not being able to close the Green.

In response to a question on the absence of any representations from the Metropolitan Police, Councillor Mitchell noted disappointment that they had not made any submissions to the Committee. He noted that a recent walkabout with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.

The Chair will explain the procedure that the Committee will follow for the hearing considered under the Licensing Act 2003 or the Gambling Act 2005. A copy of the procedure is attached.

The Chair outlined the summary of procedure.

To consider an application for the review of the Premises Licence for Tilson Stores, 40 Tilson Road London N17 9UY.

Preliminary Matter

It was raised by Mr Robert Sutherland, lawyer representing the License Holder, that the License Holder would have his son interpret for him and requested all parties take this into consideration when speaking. All parties agreed to pause to allow the License Holder’s son time to interpret for his father.

Licensing Officer

The Licensing Officer introduced the application for the review of the Premises Licence for Tilson Stores, 40 Tilson Road London N17 9UY - held by Zeynel Gunduz, which was received by the Licensing Authority on 25th June 2019. The applicant of the review was The Trading Standards RA, who cited the reason for the review was due to the operation of the premises failing to uphold the licensing conditions and licensing objective of (1) The prevention of crime and disorder and (2) The prevention of children from harm. The applicant spoke to ongoing concerns regarding operational failures to comply with ensuring duty paid products are stocked and the fact that illicit tobacco was found on the premises following previous action taken to work with the licence holder

The Trading Standards RA

The Officer representing the Trading Standards RA highlighted their detailed findings of the issues and concerns at the premises at pages 69 to 80. The Trading Standards had found the premises to be dealing in smuggled alcohol and tobacco which had no documentation or invoices to show their origins. The Trading Standards noted that such illicit goods were often smuggled into the country by criminal gangs.

The Committee were invited to revoke the License as the Trading Standards had no confidence the existing License Holder would change their behaviour.

Following a question from the License Holder’s legal representative, Trading Standards confirmed there was no suggestion that the illegal items sold at the premises were counterfeit.

Public Health RA

Concerns were raised by Public Health regarding the licensing objectives on crime and disorder, and the protection of children from harm. It was highlighted that:

• the premises had been supplying alcohol at a cheap price, which did not help to prevent antisocial behaviour and street drinking in the area.
• the failure of the premises to maintain a refusal log meant Public Health had a serious concern about the safeguarding of children as it was unknown whether the premises had refused to serve underage children.
• there was a children centre and academy in close proximity to the premises. This meant children could witness anti-social behaviour, which failed the Borough Plan to ensure that every child had the best start in life.

Public Health had no confidence the license holder would uphold the licensing objectives and invited the Committee to revoke the license. If the Committee were not minded to do so, Public Health invited it to impose their suggested conditions at page 101.

Premises

Mr Robert Sutherland, the lawyer representing the premises, started by noting the family who ran the premises wished to apologise to the Committee for this review as a consequence of the premises past failings.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.

N/A.