At the request of the Chair, Ms Kathy Driver, Licensing Officer, introduced the report which detailed the application for a variation of the premises licence for The Breakhouse Café, Unit 17 Bloc River Bank, 455 Wick Lane, London E3 2TB. It was noted that objections had been received on behalf of two residents and a local ward Councillor with nine others supporting the premises. It was noted that no objectors were present at the meeting and therefore Members of the Licensing Sub Committee would note and consider the written representations contained in the agenda pack.

At the request of the Chair, Mr Craig Baylis, Legal Representative on behalf of the Applicant explained that it was a small café situated in an industrial estate, with no residential properties in close vicinity. It had a capacity of 25 and noted that the business had suffered financial hardship during the pandemic. He then went on to state the variations applied for;

1.    To permit off sales for delivery or off-site catering

2.    Amend condition 8 in Annex 3 to permit the external area to be used until 23:00 hours

3.    To replace condition 3 in Annex 3 with the following condition “Substantial food shall be available throughout the premises at all times.”

4.    To permit supply of alcohol on the premises from 09:00 hours subject to the following condition “The supply of alcohol between 09:00 hours and midday shall only be ancillary to a meal.

5.    ” To add films as a licensable activity between 12:00 hours and 23:00 hours everyday.

Mr. Baylis also dealt briefly with the objections. He expressed disappointment that Cllr. Blake had not attended the premises despite being invited as, had she done so, she would have seen her fears were groundless. JB Riney expressed concerns but the Premises had operated without incident since April 2021 and If there had been road safety issues, the police would no doubt have objected to the application. Mr. Dover lived some distance from the Premises and much of what he said were fears and speculations and groundless with no evidence to suggest any public nuisance are associated with the premises.

In response to questions the following was noted;

-       That the applicant had previous experience of managing late night venues.

-       That the premises had been trading for the past two years.

-       That it was a food-led premises and serving alcohol during the earlier hours applied for allowed more flexibility to cater for breakfasts and brunches.

-       That there had been no complaints reported.

-       The variation to remove the condition that alcohol be ancillary to food was to give more flexibility to patrons.

-       Off-sales for delivery were sought because the Premises did deliver food to nearby businesses.

-       That the premises was in an area where there were warehouses and music studios and other late night venues, with the area being in constant use.

-       That there had been occasions where the Applicant had provided CCTV footage from her premises for the police to use for incidents that have happened in the area.

-       It was confirmed that if the variation was granted, the applicant would be amenable to the Council’s usual conditions being imposed with respect to off-sales for delivery, in particularly to ensure that under-age sales did not occur.

No concluding remarks were made.  

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

The Sub-Committee considered an application by The Breakhouse Ltd. to vary the premises licence held in respect of the Breakhouse Café, Unit 17, Bloc Riverbank, 455 Wick Lane, London, E3 (“the Premises”). The Premises are currently licensed for the sale by retail of alcohol from 12:00 hours to 23:00 hours Monday to Sunday. The variation sought was:

·       to permit the sale of alcohol from 09:00 to 12:00 hours every day;

·       to permit the external area to be used until 23:00 hours daily;

·       to permit off-sales of alcohol (from 12:00 hours to 23:00 hours);

·       to amend a condition that allows alcohol to only be served as ancillary to a meal; and,

·       to allow the showing of films from 12:00 hours to 23:00  hours every day.

The application attracted three representations objecting to it, from Cllr. Rachel Blake and two residents. There were nine representations in support.

The Sub-Committee heard from Mr. Baylis, the applicant’s solicitor, and from Chloe Bailey-Williams, the director of the company. Mr. Baylis confirmed that the responsible authorities had agreed with his client for the use of the outside area to 22:00 hours. He briefly explained the nature of the variation and informed members that the nearest residential premises were about a mile away. The Premises were located in an industrial area. They seated about twenty-five patrons.

Off-sales for delivery was sought because the Premises did deliver food to nearby businesses and it would help the business survive. The variation to remove the condition that alcohol be ancillary to food was to give more flexibility to patrons. The purpose behind allowing earlier sales was to allow customers to have a Bloody Mary, for example. Finally, the Premises were located in an area with nearby film and music studios and it would allow them to show films made by local artists.

Mr. Baylis also dealt briefly with the objections. He expressed disappointment that Cllr. Blake had not attended as, had she done so, she would have seen her fears were groundless. JB Riney expressed concerns but the Premises had operated without incident since April 2021. If there had been road safety issues, the police would no doubt have objected to the application. Mr. Dover lived some distance from the Premises and much of what he said was supposition and without any evidential basis.

Members queried the possibility of the external area being used for vertical drinking. Mr. Baylis explained that the focus was on the food. Members also asked how they would deal with gatherings in the external area and whether there had been any police issues in the area. Ms. Bailey-Williams explained that there had been occasions where the police had made use of the Premises’ CCTV system and that the presence of the Premises therefore helped with such matters. There had been no complaints about her.

Mr. Baylis confirmed that if the variation was granted, his client would be amenable to the Council’s usual conditions being imposed with respect to off-sales for delivery, which were particularly concerned with ensuring that under-age sales did not occur.

None of those making representations attended, but the Sub-Committee had read and taken account of their representations. The Sub-Committee accepted that some of the representations assumed that issues had been caused by patrons but that this was unsupported by evidence. Similarly, the complaints from JB Riney Ltd., in part, were of a more general nature about the road rather than about any likely impact, especially given that the Premises had been operating for over a year now.

The main concern for the Sub-Committee, however, was the use of the external area to a later hour. Notwithstanding the agreement by the applicant to reduce the terminal hour for the use of this area to 22:00 hours, the Sub-Committee considered that there would nonetheless be an impact upon the licensing objectives, particularly those of the prevention of public nuisance and the prevention of crime and disorder. The members of the Sub-Committee were familiar with the area in question, which was very different in nature to most other localities within the borough and which had a very different feel. Despite what had been said, the Sub-Committee considered that it was more likely than not that the use of the external area after 21:00 hours risked attracting more people to congregate outside, particularly given the nature of some of the other businesses in the immediate vicinity, such as the studios. Indeed, Liam Phillips’ representation referred to other noisy businesses in the vicinity and which had people coming and going late. The Sub-Committee considered that this gave rise to a very real risk of passers-by and others in the vicinity being encouraged to loiter and congregate as a result of seeing others use that area.

The variation is therefore granted in part and as follows:

Accordingly, the Sub Committee unanimously;

RESOLVED

That the application for a variation of the premises licence for The Breakhouse Café, Unit 17 Bloc River Bank, 455 Wick Lane, London E3 2TB be GRANTED in part with conditions.   

Sale of alcohol (on-sales only)

Monday to Sunday 09:00 hours to 23:00 hours

Sale of alcohol (off-sales only)

Monday to Sunday 12:00 hours to 23:00 hours.

Provision of films

Monday to Sunday 12:00 to 23:00 hours

Conditions

Condition 1, Annex 3 is to be substituted with “Off-sales of alcohol will be by delivery only.”

Condition 3, Annex 3 is to be substituted with “Substantial food shall be available throughout the premises at all times.”

The following conditions will be added to the premises licence:

1.    The supply of alcohol between 09:00 hours and midday shall only be ancillary to a meal.

2.    Every third party courier delivery box shall be labelled with the words “Age-Restricted Product”.

3. There shall be mechanism either by an app or on the delivery package to show the delivery rider is aware it is an age-restricted product to ensure ID checks are made upon delivery of alcohol.

4.    The premises licence holder will ensure that an age verification policy will apply whereby all delivery drivers/riders will be trained to ask any customer to whom alcohol is delivered, who appears to be under the age of 25 years to produce, before being sold alcohol, identification being a passport or photocard driving licence bearing a holographic mark or other form of identification that complies with any mandatory condition that may apply to this licence.

5.    Alcohol shall only be delivered to a residential or business address and not to a public place or vehicle.

6. All off sales to be in sealed containers.

7.    A warning shall be displayed on the digital platform on which an order is placed informing customers that they must be aged 18 or over to make a purchase of alcohol and notifying customers that the rider will carry out age verification on delivery. The customer will be required to declare that he or she aged 18 or over. If the rider is not satisfied that the customer is aged 18 or over any alcohol in the order will be withheld.

8. The Licence holder shall notify the Licensing Authority of the digital platform(s) used for the sales of alcohol and any changes to those platforms.