Agenda item
Application for a New Premises Licence for Urban Baristas, 138 Wapping High Street, London E1W 3PA
Minutes:
At the request of the Chair, Mr Mohshin Ali, Licensing Officer, introduced the report, which detailed the application for a new premises licence for Urban Barista, 138 Wapping High Street, London E1W 3PA. It was noted that there had been objections from local residents covering all four licensing objectives.
At the request of the Chair, Mr Peter Mayhew, Licensing Representative on behalf of the Applicant explained that the premises was a small café/restaurant and were seeking a licence to introduce the sale of alcohol. He stated that the hours applied for were within the Council’s framework hours and they had offered 21 robust conditions which addressed the concerns of local residents. Mr Mayhew said that there had been no representations from Responsible Authorities as they were satisfied with the hours and conditions applied for.
He explained that in response to the concerns regarding the outside area he was confident that customers were not obstructing the walk way. He said that there was reference that there was not a need for such a premises and reminded the Sub-Committee that this was not a licensing consideration. He stated that allegations of anti-social behaviour was an exaggeration of facts and therefore the petition from local residents is of little or no weight.
Mr Mayhew explained that it was a strong application and the Applicant has another premises licence in Westminster with no issues or cause for concern. It was noted that there the premises has had 7-8 temporary events notices from the Council in the past and therefore any late hours referred to would have been a part of a TEN application.
Mr Mayhew concluded that the sale of alcohol would be for small amounts or wine or craft beer to consume with a meal.
At the request of the Chair, Mr Abdul Choudhury, local resident, explained that the concerns were mainly for late at night, there was a lot of people accessing and exiting the tube station, together with customers congregating outside the premises and causing noise nuisance, and as a result of this children couldn’t sleep. It was noted that he regularly witnesses people urinating outside; drunk and disorderly behaviour and this would increase if a licence is to be granted.
Members then heard from Mr Mohammed-Ali Kada, local resident, who expressed similar concerns about noise nuisance emanating from the premises, that his children were disturbed late night by the noise as they live above the premises he also stated that smoke from customers smoking outside travelled up to the balconies and through air vents causing smoke pollution.
He stated that customers from the premises smoke and drink outside the premises all the time. He also said that the notice for the application was not visible and very difficult to notice, hence the reason for less objections. He said that on paper this was a good application but this was not the case in reality. He said that the premises causes great inconveniences in terms of noise and ASB. He referred to page 71 of the agenda which showed photos of how narrow the pavements were.
In response to questions the following was noted;
- That during TEN applications there have been people drinking outside the premise.
- The customers often block the door to the flats above the premises and can be intimidating at times.
- That in the Applicant’s view, he thought that there was sufficient space for wheelchairs to go past with the seats set outside.
- That the Applicant had offered a condition not to permit alcohol outside the premises.
- That the premises had the capacity of 30.
- That the premises would remain a café/restaurant and would be serving alcohol as part of a meal.
- That windows and doors would be kept shut in the evenings to reduce noise emanating from the premises.
- That there were no issues or complaints from Environmental Health or Police.
- That there were no complaints recorded except for the one on 14th October 2017 which was a date when a TEN application was active.
- That only the Police and Environmental Health could object to a TEN application and as part of the process residents are not required to be consulted.
- That due to the alcohol restriction outside the premises, this would limit the time and number of smokers waiting and congregating outside the premise.
- The Applicant would engage with residents and provide contact details for residents to call if they had any concerns or complaints.
- That there were 12 flats above the premises.
- That the premises had been open since March 2017.
- That the hours applied for were within the Council’s framework hours.
- That the Applicants have complied with the consultation requirements.
- Residents confirmed that there was no noise from within the café.
In summing up the residents stated that they wanted a peaceful life, and if a licence was granted then this would affect children, there would be an increase in customers and therefore more people would be congregating outside and causing public nuisance.
Mr Mayhew stated that they had offered a condition that no alcoholic drinks would be allowed outside the premises and therefore the assertion that people would be drunk outside would not be the case. He said that noise was not audible from within the premises and this had been confirmed by residents. The hours applied for were within the Council’s framework hours and there had been no objections from Responsible Authorities.
Members adjourned the meeting at 8.05pm for deliberations and reconvened at 9.35pm.
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 considered all of the evidence before them and had heard representation from the Applicant’s Licensing Representative and also heard from objectors present at the meeting.
Members recognised that the area was a mixed residential and commercial area and therefore accepted that a premises licence with late hours could cause potential public nuisance affecting residents. However, Members also welcomed the efforts made by the Applicant to address the concerns of residents by offering conditions that would promote the licensing objectives.
Members noted the concerns raised about noise emanating from the premises, and people congregating outside the premises, therefore Members believed that a condition to keep doors closed (except during access and egress) from 7pm onwards and external tables and chairs to be rendered unusable from 7pm onwards would help prevent this and alleviate some of those concerns. Members also welcomed the condition offered by the Applicant for no alcohol to be permitted outside the premises. Members were of the view that this would limit the time that customers would spend outside smoking.
Members noted from answers to questions raised in the Sub-Committee hearing that residents could not hear noise from inside the premises. Residents’ issue was over concerns about noise disturbance arising from customers immediately outside the premises.
Members also noted the serious concerns raised about customers smoking outside the premises, and the smoke going through the air vents and balconies and into residents homes who lived directly above the premises which affected families with young children. Therefore Members decided that a condition to limit the number of smokers to 2 people at any one time would ensure that smoke pollution would be limited and this would also mitigate noise arising from customers going outside the premises to smoke.
Members felt that imposing a condition that customers must be seated when drinking satisfied Members that in granting the application, the premises would be more of a café, rather than a bar or public house type of establishment, thus mitigating the potential impact of noise from the kind of crowd which might patronise a café licensed to serve alcohol for consumption on the premises.
Members were satisfied that the hours sought were within the Council’s Framework Hours, which together with Members’ additions and modifications to the raft of conditions offered by the applicant, resulted in an operating schedule which would enable the Council as a licensing authority to hold the applicant to conditions designed to address residents’ concerns over noise disturbance and smoking issues.
Members had heard that the premises had previously conducted licensable activities under the authority of Temporary Event Notices. Members noted that Temporary Event Notices cannot have conditions attached to them, and so having a premises licence with a robust raft of conditions would enable control over the kinds of concern raised by residents.
Members reached a decision and the decision was a majority decision. Members granted the application subject to conditions to help promote the licensing objectives.
Accordingly, the Sub Committee made a majority decision to:-
RESOLVED
That the application for a New Premises Licence for Urban Baristas, 138 Wapping High Street, London E1W 3PA be GRANTED with conditions.
Sale of Alcohol (on sales only)
Monday to Friday from 11:30 hrs to 23:00 hrs
Saturday from 09:00 hrs to 23:00 hrs
Sunday from 09:00 hrs to 22:30 hrs
Hours premises open to the public
Monday to Sunday from 07:00 hrs to 23:30 hrs
Conditions
1.1 No vertical drinking
1.2 No more than 2 smokers allowed to smoke outside the premises at any one time.
1.3 The premises to be limited to a capacity of 22 people at any one time.
1.4 A contact number for management is to be made available for residents to report any issues, complaints or concerns.
1.5 Staff Training – Appropriate induction training will be undertaken with all relevant staff to cover appropriate subjects for their role including:
a) The responsible sale of alcohol.
b) The prevention of under-age sales of alcohol, the Challenge 25 policy and in checking & authenticating accepted forms of identification.
c) The responsibility to refuse the sale of alcohol to any person who is drunk.
1.6 Recording Practices – The premises will maintain written reports and registers. These will be kept for a minimum of 12 months and made available to the police and any authorised officer of the licensing authority on request. Records will be maintained of the following:
a) Any complaint against the premises in respect of any of the licensing objectives
b) Any crime reported at the premises
c) Any illegal drug related incident
d) A ‘register of refusals’ highlighting any refusal in the sale of age-restricted products; for any reason.
e) Any fault in the CCTV system
f) All written reports and registers will be regularly checked by the DPS.
1.7 Weekend Brunch – The Sale of Alcohol between 09.00 and 11.30 on Saturdays and Sundays is restricted to customers taking brunch.
1.8 CCTV - The venue shall maintain a CCTV system. The CCTV system shall continually record whilst the venue is open for licensable activities and / or when customers remain on the premises. All recordings shall be time & date stamped, maintained for a 31 day period and be made available to the Police or authorised officer of the licensing authority upon request. The CCTV system shall:
a) Cover all entry points used by the public.
b) Enable frontal identification of persons entering in any light condition.
c) Be maintained by a suitably qualified person.
1.9 CCTV - Sufficient competent persons should be authorised by the premises licence holder to provide the Police with downloaded CCTV data (footage and / or images) in an appropriate recorded format (usually to a disc, memory stick or data file sent electronically) when formally requested to do so. The authorised person(s) should be sufficient to enable such data to be obtained by the police within 48 hours of a formal request being made.
1.10 CCTV - Sufficient competent persons should be authorised by the premises licence holder to ensure that at all times the premises is open to the public, a member of staff is available to show the Police, when formally requested to do so, any images / footage from CCTV system with a minimum of delay.
1.11 Drugs Zero Tolerance Policy – A Zero Tolerance Policy towards the use, possession and supply of illegal drugs will be adopted and enforced.
1.12 No Alcohol Permitted Outside – Alcoholic drinks will not be permitted to leave the premises at any time, including for those leaving for the purpose of smoking.
1.13 Preventing Theft - As a relatively small open-plan premises where staff have a clear view of the whole premises, staff vigilance in respect of potential theft from customers at the premises, is sufficient in order to prevent theft from customers.
1.14 Self-Service of Alcohol – No self-service of alcohol will be permitted at the premises.
1.15 Externally Promoted Events – No externally promoted events will be permitted at the premises; ‘externally promoted events’ are those which are promoted, managed and delivered by external promoters not affiliated to the Premises Licence holder
1.16 Fire Safety – A fire risk assessment will be conducted and regularly reviewed. In-line with the Fire Risk Assessment:
a) An integrated fire detection and alarm system is installed, checked, regularly tested and maintained by a competent person.
b) Fire extinguishers are installed in accordance with the recommendations of the fire risk assessment.
c) Emergency lighting is installed in accordance with the recommendations of the fire risk assessment.
d) All emergency exits are marked on the premises plan.
1.17 First Aid – Adequate & suitable first aid boxes will be maintained.
1.18 Refuse Disposal - Regular waste disposal is undertaken in accordance with the council’s requirements.
1.19 Litter - The area immediately outside the premises will be maintained to ensure that any litter generated by the premises and / or its customers is regularly cleared.
1.20 Noise Escape - Where amplified music is played windows and doors will be kept shut to avoid a public nuisance being caused.
1.21 Noise Escape - Outer front doors will be kept closed (except for egress and exit) after 19.00 hours to prevent noise escaping from the premises.
1.22 External Tables & Chairs – All tables and chairs located in the external areas of the premises will be rendered unusable after 19.00 hours on each day.
1.23 Exit Signage – A sign requesting customers to respect local residents and leave the premises quietly, will be displayed at each public the exit to the premises.
1.24 Challenge 25 – A Challenge 25 policy will be enforced, where any person reasonably looking under the age of 25 shall be asked to prove their age when attempting to purchase alcohol; signs to this effect will be displayed at the premises. The only acceptable forms of identity will be those photographic identification documents recognised in the Home Office guidance; including passports, photo-card driving licence or proof of age card bearing a PASS hologram.
1.25 Recording Practices - A register of refusals will be maintained at the premises.
Supporting documents: