Agenda item
Application for a New Premises Licence for Hyatt Place London City East Black Lion House 45 Whitechapel Road London E1 1DU
Minutes:
At the request of the Chair, Ms Corinne Holland, Licensing Officer, introduced the report which detailed the application for a new premises licence for Hyatt Place London City East Black Lion House 45 Whitechapel Road London E1 1DU. It was noted that objections had been received from an officer representing the Licensing Authority. It was noted that the premises was a hotel and had a terrace bar on the 9th floor.
At the request of the Chair, Mr Leo Charalambides, Legal Representative on behalf of the Applicant, briefly gave a background of the hotel and the owners. He explained that there would be no off-sales and the licence was merely for hotel guests. He said the hotel had 280 rooms with a capacity for 600 people. He explained that the restaurant had a capacity for 163 and would be used primarily by hotel guests. He referred Members to the floorplan on page 257 of the agenda and described the layout of the premises. He said that there would be no advertising for the bar and restaurant and were not looking to attract members of the public as it was for hotel guests and their personal guests. Mr Charalambides acknowledged that the premises was in the Cumulative Impact Zone (CIZ) but emphasised that the nature of the premises was different to those in the surrounding area and that the premises was not alcohol-led and any licensable activities would primarily be for guests only. It was noted that six venues in the local vicinity had closed down during the pandemic or changed nature of use.
Mr Charalambides concluded that there were security staff in place, there would be no off-sales, no cause for anti-social behaviour, did not envisage customers leaving in high spirits as they would be having a drink and then going into their rooms to sleep. He emphasised that this venue was good for the community, bringing in tourist and trade and the Applicant’s would look to employ people from the local community.
Members then heard from Ms Kathy Driver, Licensing Officer. She briefly explained that the premises was in the CIZ, she appreciated that there would be no off sales but still had concerns that this would be an additional premises in the CIZ area which already experiences high levels of public nuisance. It was noted that the hotel bar would be available 24 hour for guests.
In response to questions the following was noted;
- That there would be three reception staff on duty in the reception area in additional to SIA security staff.
- There would be full CCTV camera coverage of the premises, lifts would also have CCTV, with full facial recognition.
- That the bar would be fully staffed at all times and measures would be in place so that if any issues were to occur, culprits would be able to be identified easily.
- That there would be good selection of food offering at the restaurant
- There would be no advertising of the bar and restaurant.
- That there were rooms on the same level as the bar/restaurant so noise would always be monitored and kept to a minimal in order not to disturb other hotel guests.
- Restaurant/Bar would be open to the public but there would be no advertising and do not anticipate a significant level of public footfall.
Concluding remarks were made by both parties.
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;
- The Prevention of Public Nuisance; and
- 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 of the evidence before them and the oral representations at the meeting from the Applicant’s Legal Representative and the officer representing the Licensing Authority objecting to the application.
The Sub-Committee noted that the premises is in a cumulative impact zone (CIZ). The cumulative impact policy creates a rebuttable presumption that where relevant representations are received by one or more of the responsible authorities and/or other persons objecting to the application, the application will be refused.
The Sub-Committee noted that, under the Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy, the Applicant can rebut the above presumption if it can demonstrate exceptional circumstances and that the granting of the application would not negatively add to the cumulative issues already experienced within the CIZ.
The Sub-Committee noted the representations from the Licensing Authority regarding the risk of noise nuisance from the premises. It also noted the concerns about the existing levels of noise nuisance and anti-social behaviour, and the risk of increased noise nuisance and disturbance if the premises licence was granted.
The Sub Committee welcomed the efforts made by the Applicant in offering some robust conditions. The Applicant had removed off-sales of alcohol from the scope of the licence. Having heard how the premises would be operated, particularly as entry to the premises was tightly controlled and restricted to hotel guests and their guests, as well as the small scale of the food and drink offering, the Sub-Committee was satisfied that the premises were not alcohol-led and would not negatively impact upon the CIZ. The Sub Committee was satisfied that suitable and sufficient conditions and measures were in place to adequately address concerns regarding possible public nuisance and anti-social behaviour. Further, the nature of the premises themselves, being a hotel, also went a considerable way to reassuring Members that there would be no negative impact were the licence to be granted.
The Sub-Committee was therefore satisfied that the CIZ presumption had been rebutted as the Applicant had demonstrated that the granting of the licence would not negatively add to the cumulative issues already experienced in the area. The Sub-Committee was satisfied that there were exceptional circumstances to justify a grant of the licence as the premises were not alcohol-led and were primarily a hotel catering for its own guests.
Accordingly, the Sub-Committee unanimously
RESOLVED
That the application for a New Premises Licence for Hyatt Place, London City East Black Lion House, 45 Whitechapel Road, London E1 1DU be GRANTED with conditions.
The provisions of regulated entertainmentincluding Plays (indoors), Films (indoors & outdoors), Live Music indoors & Outdoors), (Recorded Music Indoors & Outdoors, Performance of Dance (Indoors & Outdoors) Anything of a similar nature to Live and Recorded Music or Performance of Dance
Monday -Sunday from 08:00 hours to 00:00 hours (midnight)
The Provision of Late Night Refreshment (Indoors & Outdoors)
Monday to Sunday from 23:00 hours 00:00 hours (midnight)
The Sale of Alcohol – (On & Off Sales)
Monday to Sundays from 08:00 hours to 00:00 hours (midnight)
The opening hours of the premises
24 Hours a day
Conditions
1.1 The premises shall install and maintain a comprehensive digital CCTV system. All public areas of the licensed premises, including all public entry and exit points, and the street environment will be covered, enabling facial identification of every person entering in any light condition. The CCTV cameras shall continually record while the premises are open to the public and recording shall be kept available and unedited for a minimum of 28 days with the date and time stamping.
1.2 A staff member who is conversant with the operation of the CCTV system shall be present on the premises at all times when they are open to the public and must be able to produce/download/ burn CCTV images upon request by a police officer or an authorised officer of the licensing authority. Any footage must be in a format that can be played back on a standard personal computer or standard DVD player. Where the recording is on a removable medium (ie. compact disc, flash card etc), a secure storage system to store those recording mediums shall be provided.
1.3 The premises licence holder will risk assess the need for door supervisors at the premises and/or deploy such supervisors at such time and in such numbers as deemed necessary by the risk assessment and/or at other times at the request of the police.
1.4 An incident log (which may be electronic) shall be kept at the premises for at least six months, and made available on request to an authorised officer of the licensing authority, which will record details of incidents and refusals.
1.5 An incident log shall be kept at the premises, and be available on request to the Police or an authorised officer. It must be completed within 24 hours of any incident and will record the following:
a) all crimes reported to the venue;
b) all ejections of patrons;
c) any complaints received concerning crime and disorder
d) any incidents of disorder;
e) all seizures of drugs or offensive weapons;
f) any faults in the CCTV system, searching equipment or scanning equipment;
g) any refusal of the sale of alcohol;
h) any visit by a relevant authority or emergency service.
1.6 In the event that a serious assault is committed on the premises (or appears to have been committed) the management will immediately ensure that:
a) the police (and, where appropriate, the London Ambulance Service) are called without delay;
b) all measures that are reasonably practicable are taken to apprehend any suspects pending the arrival of the police providing the staff are not in danger;
c) the crime scene is preserved so as to enable a full forensic investigation to be carried out by the police; and
d) such other measures are taken (as appropriate) to fully protect the safety of all persons present on the premises
1.7 All windows and external doors shall be kept closed when regulated entertainment takes place, except for the immediate access and egress of persons.
1.8 No noise shall emanate from the premises nor vibration be transmitted through the structure of the premises that gives rise to a nuisance.
1.9 The sale of alcohol shall not be permitted after 24:00 except to hotel residents and their bona fide guests or persons attending a pre-booked function/event.
1.10 No collections of waste or recycling materials (including bottles) from the premises shall take place between 22:00 hours and 07:00 hours on the following day.
1.11 No deliveries to the premises shall take place between 22:00 hours and 07:00 hours the following day.
1.12 Notices shall be prominently displayed at all exits requesting patrons to respect the needs of local residents and businesses and leave the area quietly.
1.13 No music or amplified sound shall be generated on the premises to give rise to a nuisance to neighbouring residents.
1.14 Loudspeakers shall not be located in the entrance lobby or outside the entrance to the premises
1.15 The external terrace area on the 9th floor shall be closed at 23.00 daily
1.16 The external terrace will operate a no smoking policy at all times
1.17 The designated smoking area will be the Courtyard adjacent to the Orangery Restaurant which will be adequately monitored by staff and CCTV to ensure that guests using that area do not cause a nuisance.
1.18 All food and beverage staff will undergo internal training on induction as to the requirements under the Licensing Act 2003 including underage sales and the hotel's proof of age policy and will receiving refresher training at least annually.
1.19 The Challenge 21 policy must be operated to ensure that any person who appears to be under the age of 21shall provide documented proof that he/she is over 18 years of age. Proof of age shall only comprise a passport, photo card driving licence, an EU/EEA national ID card or similar document, an HM Forces warrant card, or a card bearing the PASS hologram.
1.20 In addition all staff will receive training on Modern Slavery and Child exploitation and the premises will operate The © Queen’s Printer and Controller of HMSO 2009 Continued from previous page... Metropolitan police “Operation Make Safe” or equivalent policy.
Supporting documents:
- Hyatt Place cover report, item 4.3 PDF 348 KB
- Hyatt Place Appendices Only, item 4.3 PDF 13 MB
- 1. Premises Licence - Hyatt Place London City East - Operating Schedule (v.01), item 4.3 PDF 488 KB
- 2. Hotel development photo including interiors (v1), item 4.3 PDF 590 KB
- 3. LHRZC-Sales-presentation v2, item 4.3 PDF 2 MB
- 4. Hyatt Place London City East - Summary, item 4.3 PDF 284 KB