At the request of the Chair Mr Ibrahim Hussain, Licensing Officer, introduced the report which detailed the application for a new premises licence for Poplar Spice, 201 East India Dock Road, London E14 0ED. It was noted that objections had been made by the Licensing Authority and local residents.

Mr Abul Kawsar, representing the Applicant apologised for his client not being in attendance. He said the Applicant’s business partners were in attendance. Mr Kawsar explained they had applied for a late-night refreshments licence, to meet demand and ensure the business remained competitive. Of the objections received to the application, Mr Kawsar said these were tactical from other business competitors. He said the current business intended to make a fresh start and would comply with the licensing objectives and conditions.

Mr Mohshin Ali, Senior Licensing Officer, stated the main objection the Licensing Authority had to the application related to the historical incidences of the premises trading beyond the permitted hours and being in breach of the Covid -19 curfew. However, on two recent visits the Licensing Authority had found the premises to be compliant. Mr Ali added the lapsed licence had only come to light in October 2021, hence the current application.

In response to question from Members the following was noted:

• Mr Kawsar confirmed Mr Mohammed Mynul Khan would be at the premises with the two business partners to oversee the day-to-day operation of the premises.
• Last orders would be taken 30 minutes prior to closing time so to ensure food and take away orders do not exceed the closing time of the premises.
• The one-minute stop, with the late-night refreshments commencing at 23.01 hours had been applied for to allow for a shift change. No food would be served during that one-minute.
• In response to if the Applicant would consider an earlier closing time for Sunday, Mr Kawsar stated demand was high and therefore they’d like to operate until 2:00 hours as per their application.

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 licensing objectives:

• The Prevention of Crime and Disorder;
• Public Safety;
• The Prevention of Public Nuisance; and
• The Protection of Children from Harm.

Consideration

The Sub-Committee considered an application by Mohammed Mynul Khan for a new premises licence to be held in respect of Poplar Spice, 201 East India Dock Road, London, E14 (“the Premises”). The application sought authorisation for the provision of late night refreshment from 23:01 hours to 02:00 hours seven days per week. Representations against the application were received from the Licensing Authority and from three interested parties.

The Sub-Committee heard from Mr. Kawsar and Mohammed Khan and Mr. M. D. Khan on behalf of the applicant. The Sub-Committee was informed that the applicant was out of the country and unable to return to the UK due to travel restrictions. They were authorised to act on the applicant’s behalf.

The premises had previously benefitted from a premises licence held by London East Communications Ltd. The applicant had been the director. The company had dissolved in September 2018. The result of this was that the licence lapsed. The application sought to obtain a new licence for the same hours as authorised previously.

Mr. Kawsar suggested that the interested parties making representations were competitors of the applicant. He informed the Sub-Committee that there had been no complaints or objections from others and that the applicant had offered various conditions.

Mohshin Ali, Licensing Officer, spoke to his representation. He referred to allegations of operating outside licensed times or in breach of Covid restrictions. It was only as a result of these allegations that the fact that the licence had lapsed came to light. However, he also noted that when the Premises had been visited they had been compliant. He was concerned about who would be managing the Premises since the applicant had not been present when visits had been carried out. He was concerned also with the hours, which were outside of framework hours. He suggested additional conditions to be imposed if the Sub-Committee was minded to grant the application.

Mr. Kawsar accepted that there had been breaches but suggested that these were by the previous business. He indicated during questions that they would consider a reduced hour on Sunday. He considered, however, that it would be beneficial to the locality, that their customers wanted to be able to purchase food until 02:00 and that the impact on the neighbourhood would be controlled.

The main concern related to the prevention of public nuisance with the operation of the later hours. Whilst the applicant had accepted that there had been some breaches, the Sub-Committee had no evidence that these had in fact impacted on the licensing objectives. In addition, the Sub-Committee had regard to the fact that visits carried out had shown compliance.

The Sub-Committee attached little weight to the representations from those interested parties who had not appeared. There were clear similarities between the writing on the envelopes, for example, or sentences in the representations that were identical to sentences in others. The Sub-Committee could not be sure that these were not from the same people but, in the absence of them attending, it did detract from the weight to be afforded to the representations. Further, the representations themselves were lacking in specificity, which again made it harder for the Sub-Committee to place any real weight upon them.

The main concern for the Sub-Committee was the operation on Sunday through to Monday until 02:00 hours. No other nearby premises operated beyond 01:00 hours and Sunday is the day when generally licensed and other premises operate to earlier hours. Whilst the Sub-Committee considered that the licensing objectives would be promoted if the application was granted to 02:00 hours Monday to Sunday, it was not satisfied that there would not be an adverse impact on Sunday if granted until 02:00 hours. People generally tended to go to bed earlier or would generally expect less noise on Sunday and the Sub-Committee was not satisfied, even with the imposition of conditions, that these would suffice to mitigate any impact. The Sub-Committee was satisfied that the conditions consistent with the operating schedule and those proposed by the Licensing Authority, along with a modest reduction on Sundays to 01:00 hours would be appropriate and proportionate to ensure the promotion of the licensing objectives.

Accordingly, the Sub Committee unanimously;

RESOLVED

That the application for a variation of the premises licence for Poplar Spice, 201 East India Dock Road, London E14 0ED be GRANTED with conditions:

Provision of late night refreshment (indoors)

Monday to Saturday          23:01 hours to 02:00 hours

Sunday                              23:01 hours to 01:00 hours

Hours the premises are open to the public

Monday to Saturday           11:00 hours to 02:00 hours

Sunday                              11:00 hours to 01:00 hours

Conditions

1. The premises shall install and maintain a comprehensive CCTV system as per the minimum requirements of the Tower Hamlets Police Licensing Team:

a)    All entry and exit points will be covered enabling frontal identification of every person entering in any light condition;

b)    The CCTV system shall continually record whilst the premises are open for licensable activity and at all times when customers are on the premises;

c)    All recordings shall be stored for a minimum period of 31 days and be date and time-stamped;

d)    Viewing of recordings shall be made available immediately upon the request of the police or authorised officer throughout the 31 day period.

2. A staff member from the premises who is conversant with the operation of the CCTV system shall be on the premises at all times that the premises are open. This staff member must be able to provide the police or authorised council officer with copies of recent CCTV images or data with the absolute minimum of delay when requested.

3. An incident report log book in kept at the premises and record all incidents of crime and disorder associated with the premises. The incident log shall be made available on request to the police or an authorised officer of the Council.

4. Signs will be displayed prominently inside and outside the premises asking customers to respect local residents and to be quiet when leaving the premises.

5. Any delivery service will be arranged with non-motoring vehicle services such as Deliveroo, to avoid motoring noise, parking and pollution nuisance.

6. The extraction system is fitted with attenuation and filtration units to avoid noise and odour nuisance. Fan power level will be kept at minimum to reduce noise level during late night hours.

7. Visiting children will be required to be supervised by adults during the late night hours after 21:00 hours. Signs will be clearly displayed to notify visitors of this. An on-site supervisor will monitor the age of customers.