Members are reminded to consider the categories of interest, identified in the Code of Conduct for Members to determine: whether they have an interest in any agenda item and any action they should take. For further details, see the attached note from the Monitoring Officer.

Members are also reminded to declare the nature of the interest at the earliest opportunity and the agenda item it relates to. Please note that ultimately it is the Members’ responsibility to identify any interests and also update their register of interest form as required by the Code.

If in doubt as to the nature of an interest, you are advised to seek advice prior the meeting by contacting the Monitoring Officer or Democratic Services.

There were no declarations of interest made.

The rules of procedure were noted.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the Licensing Sub-Committees held on 23^rd November, 7^th and 16^th December 2021.

The minutes of the meeting held on 23^rd November 2021, 7^th and 16^th December 2021 were agreed and approved as a correct record. 

At the request of the Chair, Mr Mohshin Ali, Licensing Officer, introduced the report which detailed the application for a new premises licence for Monks, 32 Cheshire Street, London E2 6ER. It was noted that objections had been received from Officers representing the Licensing Authority and Environmental Health.

At the request of the Chair, Ms Jessica Collins, Applicant explained that initially she had thought the premises was in a good location. However, upon visiting the premises, she found it to be in bad condition, not fit for purpose and had poor sound insulation as she could hear the neighbours who lived above the premises. She expressed strongly that she would not comply with some of the conditions proposed by the responsible authorities and that the premises were not suitable to operate as a bar.

Ms Collins also explained that she did not wish to agree to a condition for drinks to be consumed whilst seated and could not accept a condition prohibiting vertical drinking either, as she wanted to operate as a bar and therefore wanted customers to drink at the bar. She also wanted to have live music performances at the premises. Due to the nature of the intended business, Ms Collins told the Sub-Committee that she foresaw there would be complaints and problems with neighbours as there was no sound proofing at the premises. Ms Collins did state that she would be willing to install CCTV cameras at the premises as agreed in consultation with the Police.

At this juncture the Chair suggested to Ms Collins that if she were in so much doubt about the suitability of the premises for her business, its fitness for purpose, and her willingness to comply with conditions likely to be attached to the premises licence if granted, she might wish to consider withdrawing her application.  

Ms Collins was adamant that she wished to continue with the premise licence application, but repeated that she did not agree with a prohibition on vertical drinking. However, she did agree to install CCTV cameras and adhere to a condition to limit the number of smokers to smoke outside the premises. She said the walls were thin and noise would most definitely emanate from the premises. Ms Collins concluded that the hours applied for were modest between 4pm to 10pm, and her business  would be operating  as a bar and playing live music, with a capacity for 25 people.

Members then heard from Ms Lavine Miller-Johnson, Licensing Officer., She said that the premises was in the cumulative impact zone (CIZ) and told the Sub-Committee that on a balance of probability, the Authority was concerned by the addition of another set of premises selling alcohol, potentially adding to the existing anti-social issues in the area, particularly through access and egress.

The Sub-Committee noted Ms. Miller-Johnson’s concerns that Ms. Collins did not accept some of the conditions proposed by the responsible authorities. She acknowledged that the hours were within the framework hours. However not much information was provided  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.1

At the request of the Chair, Mr Mohshin Ali, Licensing Officer, introduced the report which detailed the application for a new premises licence for Kahaila, 135 Brick Lane, London E1 6SB. It was noted that objections had been received from the Licensing Authority and Environmental Health. Mr Ali highlighted the fact that the Applicant had been in touch and wanted to change the nature of the application to sale of alcohol in general, not limited to mulled wine and Baileys hot chocolate during the winter months as stated in the original application.

At this juncture, the Chair sought legal advice on this matter and asked the Applicant if he wished to withdraw his application and put in a new application with the change requested, or proceed tonight with the application as originally drawn up, with the option of submitting a further application to cover the sale of alcohol in general after any grant of the application as drawn up. The reason for this was that the applicant now sought verbally to change fundamentally the nature and scope of what had been sought in the application as originally submitted.  

Mr Paul Unsworth, Applicant confirmed that he wished to carry on with the application as it stood, and would consider a variation application in future if the application were to be granted.

At the request of the Chair, Mr Unsworth gave a brief history of the premises and explained that there was no intention of turning this premises into a bar. It was a café, which helped ex-offenders to rehabilitate and work in a café, learning new skills such as baking and cooking. It was noted that all proceeds from the café were reinvested into community development and upskilling people.

Mr Unsworth clarified that the purpose of the application was to enable an increase in  income during the winter months to help increase the profit earned to help the community. Mr Unsworth was aware that the premises was in the CIZ (Cumulative Impact Zone), and believed that the application as drawn,   addressed the concerns of the premises being in the CIZ, hence he believed that the application by its nature would not add to the cumulative impact on the area, especially with the additional effect of  conditions, both those offered by the Applicant and those put forward by the responsible authorities with which the Applicant was happy to agree, except for  condition 7 proposed by the Licensing Authority for the sale of alcohol to be ancillary to a meal, which Mr Unsworth considered unnecessary where provision for only the sale of mulled wine and Baileys hot chocolate was sought. 

Members then heard from Ms Lavine Miller-Johnson, Licensing Officer, who  referred to her representations on pages 163-167 of the agenda. She said that the application as drawn sought to enable the sale of only mulled wine and Baileys hot chocolate during the winter months, so her representations were limited only to addressing that, not the sale of alcohol generally. She said that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.2

This item was withdrawn prior to the meeting.

The Sub Committee may be requested to extend the decision deadline for applications to be considered at forthcoming meetings due to the volume of applications requiring a hearing.  Where necessary, details will be provided at the meeting.

Members agreed to extend the decision deadlines for the applications below to the dates stated; Licensing applications were extended due to the impact of the pandemic, and were adjourned under regulation 11 of the Licensing Act 2003 (Hearings) Regulations 2005, it was in the public interest to do so, and did not require representation from parties to the applications.