Agenda item
Application to Review the Premises Licence for The Lighthouse, 421 Wick Lane, London E3 2NG
Minutes:
At the request of the Chair, Mr Mohshin Ali, Licensing Officer, introduced the report, which detailed the application for a review of the premises licence for The Lighthouse, 421 Wick Lane, London E3 2NG. It was noted that representations had been received in support of the review and one representation against the review.
At the request of the Chair, Nicola Cadzow, Environmental Health Officer, stated that she was not objecting or supporting the review but wanted to give noise comments in her capacity as an Environmental Health Officer. She explained that they had received complaints from resident previously but had no evidence to support public nuisance. However since the review, a visit was made in response to a complaint and a statutory noise nuisance was witnessed which then followed a noise abatement notice being served on the Premises Licence Holder, this was referred to in supplemental agenda 1.
At the request of the Chair, Wayne Lloyd, local resident and Applicant of the review, briefly explained that he was not trying to be unreasonable but wanted to enjoy his property, his home, he explained that on occasions he has had to leave his house during weekends, go to friends houses or hotels as its been impossible to escape the noise. He also stated that he regularly witnessed customers of The Lighthouse urinating and vomiting on the streets and by cars and causing general public nuisance. He concluded that this was causing a negative impact on his life, his neighbours and the area as a whole.
Members then heard from John Sharp, Perry Miller and Emma Lloyd who expressed similar concerns of noise nuisance and public nuisance specifically linked to the premises. It was noted that attempts to contact the owner had been made but as a result they have been subject to abuse and intimidating behaviour. There was also reference to blocking off a public road for a party the venue was hosting without any authority, affecting residents from driving/walking through. It was noted that these changes had started from the beginning of this year 2018 with excessive late night parties and people drinking and congregating on the streets causing nuisance.
Members then heard from Mr Kishan Bhatt, local resident against the review, he explained that he lived directly above the premise and had been for the past 2 years and has lived in the area since 2000. He explained that throughout his stay he had only been woken up by excessive noise the once, this was brought to Mr Ren Patel’s attention who addressed this immediately and since then, noise has never been a problem. He said that it was a community pub, he went there regularly and had never witnessed any anti-social behaviour or underage drinking.
Mr Ren Patel, Designated Premises Supervisor stated briefly that he was not an unreasonable man, disputed the accusations that had been made by the residents. He said that the premises had sound proofing, had drapes to stop noise breakout. It was noted that security staff were also employed to move customers away from the residential homes.
In response to questions the following was noted;
- That the applicant and residents had no concerns of underage sales at the premises.
- That a public road was closed off by Mr Patel without any authorisation from the Council’s Highways Team or the Police.
- That the window of one resident was shattered from the inside but there was a loud sound from outside which is believed to have caused the breaking of the glass.
- That Mr Patel did not accept that vandalising of the bus stop was by customers of The Lighthouse as there was another event going on in the club in Autumn St and therefore hard to say who’s customers they were.
- That approximately 90-100 guests would attend an event throughout the evening.
- That late night events are usually twice a month.
- That Mr Patel agreed to reduce the current licence hours to the Council’s framework hours, on the basis that this whole procedure would end.
Members adjourned the meeting at 8.30pm for deliberations and reconvened at 8.55pm.
The Licensing Objectives
In considering the application, 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 licencing objectives:
- The Prevention of Crime and Disorder;
- Public Safety;
- Prevention of Public Nuisance; and
- The Protection of Children from Harm
Consideration
Each application must be considered on its own merits and the Chair stated that the Sub Committee had carefully listened to the representations made by the Applicants, the residents supporting the review as well as the Premises Licence Holder and those against the review application. The Sub Committee also took into consideration the comments from the Environmental Health Officer.
Members were concerned over the number of complaints logged by the Applicant together with those made by other individual residents. Although Members took into account Mr Kishan Bhatt’s representation that he suffered no noise nuisance whilst living directly above the premises except once, Members could not disregard the written representations and the video evidence provided by the Applicant which showed incidents of noise nuisance and public nuisance. As well as this, it was noted that Enforcement Officers had witnessed statutory noise nuisance from the premises and consequently served noise abatement notices.
Members also had serious concerns that on one occasion the premises licence holder had took it upon himself to close off a public road to benefit his patrons without any prior permission from the Highways Team for such a road closure and this to Members demonstrated a blatant disregard to rules and regulations.
In reaching their decision, Members noted the current demographics of the area and noted that the area that was once derelict, was now full of industry, amenities, entertainment venues and most importantly a rapidly growing residential community. Members noted that the objections from local residents covered a wide range of concerns which was evident in demonstrating that there was already public nuisance in the form of noise nuisance.
However, Members welcomed the agreement from the Premises Licence Holder to reduce the current licensable hours to come in line with the Council’s Framework hours and believed that this was a way forward to help address the concerns of residents and promote the licensing objectives. Members believed that further conditions restricting the number of patrons smoking outside the premises at any one time and no drinks allowed outside the premises and no off sales would help alleviate the remaining concerns of local residents and also address the issues of public nuisance and noise nuisance emanating from the premises.
Members were satisfied that imposing conditions including altering existing permissions that relate to problems which they considered had been identified were necessary and proportionate to ensure that the licensing objectives are met.
Therefore Members made a decision and the decision was unanimous. Members granted the application in part with a reduction in hours and imposed additional conditions.
Decision
Accordingly, the Sub-Committee unanimously –
RESOLVED
That the Review application for, The Lighthouse, 421 Wick Lane, London E3 2NG be GRANTED in part with conditions.
The premise licence be amended to the following;
Sale of Alcohol (On sales only)
Monday to Thursday from 10:00 hours to 23:00 hours
Friday & Saturday from 10:00 hours to 00:00 hours (midnight)
Sunday from 10:00 hours to 22:30 hours
The Provision of Regulated Entertainment (films, indoor sporting events, recorded music)
Monday to Thursday from 10:00 hours to 23:00 hours
Friday & Saturday from 10:00 hours to 00:00 hours (midnight)
Sunday from 10:00 hours to 22:30 hours
The Provision of Regulated Entertainment (live music)
Friday & Saturday from 18:00 hours to 00:00 hours (midnight)
Sunday from 11:00 hours to 22:30 hours
The Provision for Late Night Refreshments
Friday & Saturday from 23:00 hours to 00:00 hours (midnight)
Non Standard Times
Christmas Eve, St Patricks Day, St George’s Day, St Andrew’s Day, St David’s Day, Diwali Day from 10:00 hours to 02:00 hours (the following day)
NB. New Years Eve is subject to the Regulatory Reform (Special Occasions Licensing) Order 2002. Which means that while that order is in effect the premises may remain open for twelve hours between 11pm in New Years Eve and 11am on New Years Day.
Hourspremisesare opentothepublic:
Monday to Thursday from 10:00 hours to 23:30 hours
Friday & Saturday from 10:00 hours to 00:30 hours (midnight)
Sunday from 10:00 hours to 23:00 hours
Conditions
- No off sales.
- No drinks to be taken outside the premises.
- No more than 10 smokers allowed to smoke outside the premises at any one time.
- CCTV camera system covering both internal and external to the premises is to be installed.
- The CCTV recordings are to be maintained for 30 days and to be provided upon request to either a police officer or any officer of any other Responsible Authority.
- At all times when the premises are open, a person who can operate the CCTV system must be present on the premises.
Supporting documents:
- Lighthouse cover report, item 4.2 PDF 91 KB
- WickLane421.RED2nd, item 4.2 PDF 6 MB
- EH - Supporting Docs, item 4.2 PDF 19 KB
- Lighthouse PH - THEOs witness statement_Redacted, item 4.2 PDF 167 KB
- Abatement Notices, item 4.2 PDF 94 KB
- Abatement Notices 2, item 4.2 PDF 94 KB
- P.Miller.REP_Redacted (3), item 4.2 PDF 48 KB