Agenda item

To consider an application for a variation of the premises licence.

Daliah Barrett, Licensing Officer, introduced the application for a variation of the existing premises licence at Nickel, 143b Crouch Hill, N8 9QJ.  The applicant wished to vary the hours of operation and the layout of the premises to allow for a bench outside of the premises for the consumption of alcohol.  Ms Barrett informed the Committee that as the outside of the premises was on the public highway, any request to use this area would be subject to a further application for a street trading licence.  Representations had been received from local residents.

Ms Barrett informed the Committee that the references on the current licence (under Annex 2, prevention of public nuisance) to live music ceasing at 23.00hrs and alcohol sales ceasing at 23.30hrs shall be removed, as they served no purpose on the licence.  Ms Barrett added that that KMNS Trading Ltd had been running the premises since May 2016 and there had been no complaints recorded against them.

Rosemary Jackson, Interested Party, outlined her representation against the application.  Her objection mainly focussed on public nuisance and the noise that would be heard from the premises late at night.  The road that the premises was located on was not a particularly busy road, with very few commercial premises.  The tables outside of the premises would encourage people to sit there to smoke, increasing the noise nuisance and causing further noise to escape from the doors with people entering and exiting the premises to smoke.  Ms Jackson added that she would accept extended hours for Friday and Saturday only.

Steve Williams, Applicant, presented the application for a variation of the premises licence.  He explained that KMNS Trading Ltd had applied for an extension in hours to allow the restaurant to expand the business and increase daytime trade.  He informed the Committee that the request to extend the hours on Thursday evening had been withdrawn.

Mr Williams explained that sound proofing work had been carried out at the premises and there were ongoing discussions with the landlord and upstairs tenants to control any potential noise nuisance.  He described the area surrounding the premises and informed the Committee that the premises was located on a commercial strip, next to a busy recording studio and an off licence.  The Blue Legume restaurant provided 20 covers outside of the restaurant and operated until 22.30hrs.  This application was for 6 covers outside of the restaurant.  Mr Williams also pointed out that no representation had been made by Enforcement Response.

All parties made a brief closing statement and the Committee retired to consider its decision.  The Chair informed all present that the decision would be circulated in writing following the hearing.

RESOLVED

The Committee carefully considered the variation application and the representations made by residents, as well as the council’s statement of licensing policy and the Licensing Act 2003 Section 182 guidance.

Having fully considered the written and oral representations and questioned those present, the Committee decided to grant the application in part as follows:          

Opening Hours

Sunday to Thursday                        1000 to 2330 hours

Friday and Saturday                        1000 to 0030 hours

Supply of Alcohol

Sunday to Thursday                        1000 to 2300 hours

Friday and Saturday                        1000 to 0000 hours

For Consumption ON and OFF the premises

Late Night Refreshment

Friday and Saturday                        2300 to 0000 hours

Seasonal variations

New Years Eve

Opening hours                                 1000 to 0330

Supply of Alcohol                             1000 to 0300

Late Night refreshment                   2300 to 0300

Recorded music                               1000 to 0300

Live Music                                         2300 to 0300

The Committee heard evidence that the premises were not situated on the main road, but on Crouch Hill, where there was a mix of commercial and residential premises.  The premises are on the ground floor with residential flats above and across the road.  The Committee were of the view that the premises were part of the commercial strip of properties and that the areas was not purely residential as there were other shops and restaurants in the area.

It was suggested to the Committee that a nuisance would be caused by the premises if the licence was extended to the later hours proposed by the variation, but the Committee were persuaded by the evidence that the premises were a well-run small restaurant and bar seating 24 people, they do not play loud music and there had been no complaints to the Council since May 2016 when it starting operating.  The Committee therefore decided that granting the licence would not undermine the licensing objective of the prevention of public nuisance and so the extended hours were granted.

In granting the extension, the Committee confirms that the condition which states:

• The sale of alcohol will cease at 23.30 allowing half an hour for patrons to leave orderly and quietly

shall be excised from the licence.

The condition which states:

• All live music will stop prior to the 23.00 noise curfew, with the exception of non-standard timings, of which will be advertised prior to the date reasonably in advance.

Shall be amended to read:

• All live music after 23.00 will be advertised prior to the date reasonably in advance.

The application included a variation to the layout of the premises in accordance with a plan that included a proposed external seating area on the pavement at the front of the premises.  Having regard to the evidence that the pavement was narrow, that when a bench had been placed outside previously for customers to smoke residents had complained about the smoke going in their windows and that the noise had been intrusive, the Committee decided that having a seating area outside would inevitably bring the noise outside and unreasonably affect the residents particularly those above, which would undermine the licensing objective of the preventing public nuisance.

The Committee also considered evidence that the seating outside would cause an obstruction to the shared entranceway to the premises above. Having considered these representations, the Committee decided that having a seating area on the pavement was likely to cause an unreasonable obstruction that would affect public safety.

For the reasons given above the part of the application relating to the outside seating area was rejected.