Agenda item
Licensing Act 2003 Application for Variation of Premises Licence for Wombats City Hostel, 7 Dock Street, London, E1 8LL
Minutes:
At the request of the Chair, Ms Corinne Holland, Licensing Officer, introduced the report which detailed the application for a variation of the premises licence for Wombats Hostel, 7 Dock Street, London E1 8LL. It was noted that objections had been received on behalf of Environmental Health as well as from local residents.
At the request of the Chair, Mr Philip Dayle, legal representative on behalf of the Applicant, explained that the variation of the premises licence was being sought to allow the sale of alcohol to non-guests until 01:30 a.m. and to permit the playing of non-amplified music outdoors until not later than 11:00 p.m. Mr Dayle referred to the Applicant’s written submissions and the witness statement of Ms Carolin Paarmann. He stated that the concerns raised by the Environmental Health Officer and residents had been addressed in these documents. Mr Dayle referred to paragraphs 3 to 8 of his own submissions and paragraph 22 of Ms Carolin Paarmann’s statement. Mr Dayle said he noted that SIA security staff were already in place to ensure the dispersal of patrons leaving the hostel; this measure would assist in the monitoring of non-hostel guests. He said that the hostel would ensure the number of guests did not exceed the hostel’s capacity which had been reviewed in light of the pandemic guidelines.
Environmental Health Officer Nicola Cadzow and local residents Mr Daniel Gleeson and Ms Megan Raven expressed concern at the risk of public nuisance as a result of the hostel being open to non-guests and playing music outdoors. Mr Gleeson said that residents facing the courtyard would be particularly affected by the noise nuisance and that an earlier closing time of the courtyard would be appropriate to limit the risk of noise nuisance to local residents.
In response to Members’ questions, the following was noted:
1. The Applicant believed there would be less hostel bar patrons than pre-COVID19 when the Premises had a greater number of beds available for use. Ms Paarmann said that the capacity of the bar was being reviewed and the hostel would monitor the number of people entering the Premises. The Premises would not allow members of the public to enter once full capacity had been reached.
2. The Applicant said that she was not aware of public nuisance complaints made to the hostel, other than the objections to the application to vary the licence. Upon further questioning, Ms Paarmann acknowledged that further complaints had been received from neighbours regarding noise nuisance from the Premises.
3. In respect to the courtyard, Ms Paarmann said that the hostel usually closed this area at 10:00 p.m. Smokers use the front of the building after 10:00 p.m. Large groups are broken up if there is too much noise outside the front of the building.
4. The Applicant confirmed that she would accept a condition to limit the use of the courtyard area until 9:00 p.m.
Both parties made closing remarks.
The Chair advised all parties that a decision would be made by the Sub-Committee once this meeting was over and a decision notice, including the reasons for the decision, would be sent out to all parties within five working days.
The Licensing Objectives
In considering the application, the Members were required to consider the same in accordance with the Licensing Act 2003 (as amended), the Licensing Objectives, the Home Office Guidance and the Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy and in particular to have regard to the promotion of the four licensing objectives:
1. The Prevention of Crime & Disorder;
2. Public Safety;
3. The Prevention of Public Nuisance; and
4. The Protection of Children from Harm.
Consideration
Each application must be considered on its own merits. The Chair confirmed that the Sub-Committee had carefully considered all the evidence before it and heard oral representations at the meeting from the Applicant’s Legal Representative, the Officer representing Environmental Health and local residents objecting to the application, with particular regard to the prevention of public nuisance and crime and disorder.
The Applicant sought to vary the current licence to allow the sale of alcohol to non-guests until 01:30 a.m. and to permit the playing of non-amplified music outdoors until no later than 11:00 p.m. It believed that sufficient measures were in place to ensure that patrons would not cause noise nuisance or anti-social behaviour. Environmental Health and local resident objectors were concerned that the noise from patrons in the courtyard and immediately outside the premises would cause a public nuisance.
The Sub-Committee welcomed the offer by the Applicant to reduce the hours of use of the outdoor areas. The Sub-Committee was satisfied that a condition restricting the use of the outdoor areas to 9pm and a condition not to cause noise nuisance to local residents would alleviate the concerns regarding noise nuisance from the playing of music outdoors.
The Sub-Committee was concerned about the risk of public nuisance and anti-social behaviour if the premises licence was varied to allow it to sell alcohol to any non-guest during licensed hours. The Sub-Committee noted that the premises was located in a heavily populated residential area and concluded that the variation was likely to result in noise nuisance by patrons entering and leaving the premises at noise sensitive hours. The Sub-Committee was not satisfied that the Applicant had sufficiently addressed the licensing objectives.
Accordingly, the Sub-Committee unanimously:
RESOLVED
That the application for a variation of the premises licence for Wombats Hostel, 7 Dock Street, London E1 8LL be GRANTED IN PART with conditions.
The supply of Alcohol (on premises only)
Monday to Sunday from 12:00 hours (midday) to 01:30 hours (the following day)
The provision of Regulated Entertainment in the form of Live Music and Recorded Music
Indoors - Monday to Sunday from 12:00 hours (midday) to 01:30 hours (the following day)
Outdoors – Monday to Sunday from 12:00 hours (midday) to 21:00 hours.
Opening hours of the premises
Monday to Sunday from 12:00 hours (midday) to 01:30 hours (the following day)
Conditions consistent with the Operating Schedule
1. CCTV is to be installed.
a) A CCTV camera system covering both internal and external to the premise is to be installed;
b) The CCTV recordings are to be maintained for 31 days and to be provided upon request to either a Police Officer or an officer of any other Responsible Authority;
c) A system shall be in place to maintain the quality of the recorded image and a complete audit trail maintained. The system will be maintained and fully operational throughout the hours that the premises are open for any licensable activity;
d) At all times the premises is open, a person who can operate the CCTV system must be present on the premises. Who can download the images and present them immediately on request by a police officer or other responsible authority;
2. That an incident report book be kept and record all incidents of crime and disorder associated with the premises;
3. Signs be prominently displayed both inside and outside asking customers to respect local residents and to be quiet when leaving the premises;
4. A minimum of 2 SIA staff be on duty in the bar area from 20:00hrs until close of the bar on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights;
5. No non guests allowed into the bar area after 23:00hrs each night;
6. Non guests have to be signed into the premises by a guest;
7. Tower Hamlets Police Licensing are to be notified 2 weeks in advance of all private bookings of the bar area;
8. A Crime Prevention Plan will be agreed with Tower Hamlets Police;
9. Fire and Safety equipment will be installed to reasonable satisfaction of local Fire and Safety Officer;
10. The applicant will run a Challenge 25 Policy;
11. No unaccompanied persons under the age of 16 will be allowed to go into the Bar area.
12. All staff directly involved with the in the sale of alcohol is receiving appropriate training on their responsibility under the Licensing Act.
Additional Conditions
13. The Premises shall ensure that outdoor seating areas are not used after 9pm.
14. The Premises shall ensure that no drinks are taken to any outdoor area after 9pm.
15. The Premises shall ensure that no noise nuisance is caused to neighbouring residents.
Supporting documents:
- DockSt7, item 4.1 PDF 337 KB
- DockSt7.Appendix_RED, item 4.1 PDF 3 MB
- 17131187 Counsel's submissions, item 4.1 PDF 91 KB
- 17144202 Final Wtn Statement of C Paarmann, item 4.1 PDF 1003 KB