At the request of the Chair, Mr Nick Kemp, Licensing Officer, introduced the report which detailed the new application for a premises license for Halal PFC, 400 Hackney Road, London E2 7AP. It was noted that objections had been received by the Metropolitan Police, Planning Enforcement and local residents.

Mr Kemp also explained that an application for this premises was made earlier on this year in February 2010 which was subsequently refused, however since then, Licensing had received six further complaints. It was noted that since the last application, two warning letters had been sent to the applicant in January and July 2010 and the premises had been reported to be opened outside opening hours on 13^th August 2010 for which a decision is still awaiting.

Mr Saydikur Rahman, applicant explained that the premise had been opened since November 2009. It was a new place and therefore staff and management were not familiar with the local people and therefore had experienced some problems during December 2009 and January 2010. Mr Rahman stated that since then he had tackled these problems and a lot of the incidents which were referred to by objectors were prior to the previous license application. He also explained that the reason why the premises had been open outside its opening hours was at the request from the local mosque, during Ramadan in order to provide food after prayers.

Mr Rahman explained that he had provisions in place to promote the licensing objectives such as operating with CCTV cameras, allowing no glass bottles in the premises, displaying notices asking customers to leave quietly and respect the needs of local residents and introducing floor walkers. It was also noted that the shop had double glazed windows and the doors of the premises would be kept shut to prevent noise nuisance.

He also said that he was working very closely with young people who come to the shop, by talking to them and explaining the effects of anti-social behaviour, he stated that the young people were aged under 18 and were often out till 8pm– 10pm. Mr Rahman sought permission to table documents at the meeting, however Ms Zoe Pettite, local resident, did not agree to this and therefore the documents were not tabled at the meeting. He concluded by stating that he had two other premises in Tower Hamlets which had late night refreshments license and had never experienced any problems under his management. 

Mr Alan Cruickshank, Metropolitan Police referred to his statement on page 117 of the agenda and explained that they had received a number of calls regarding the nuisance in the area and then went on to highlight the reported incidents which had taken place emphasising on a assault which took place outside the premises. Mr Cruickshank stated that there were residential accommodation on both sides of the road and any increase of hours would further disrupt the lives of the local residents as there are already concerns of anti-social behaviour which was likely to increase. It was also noted that there were out of hours sales.

Mr Razaul Haque, Environmental Health Officer, in reference to the statement on page 193 of the agenda, explained that the premises was located in a predominantly residential part of the Hackney Road and was in effect surrounded by residential users. It was noted that this part of Hackney Road had very low background noise levels in the early hours of the morning and it was felt that noise and other anti-social activities would be caused by customers both arriving and leaving the premises in the early hours of the morning and congregating in the street outside the premises to the detriment of local residents and their right to quiet enjoyment of their homes.

Mr Andrew Dickson, Planning Enforcement Officer explained that Planning did not support the application to extend opening hours as it would cause a serious public nuisance to surrounding residential occupiers far later into the evening and morning then what currently occurred.

Ms Zoe Pettite, local residents also raised concerns in relation to the anti-social behaviour, public nuisance and the general decline in the area she also mentioned that she had been spat at and abused by the customers of Halal PFC. 

In response to questions it was noted that the area was densely populated by local residents, and that other local shops closed early evening. Mr Rahman accepted that there had been problems when the premise was first opened, however problems had reduced since then. He also stated that he was not responsible for people outside the premise. It was noted that Mr Rahman was aware that closing hours were 11pm however due to a special request by the local mosque during Ramadan had kept it open.

Mr Rahman stated that he would like to amend his application to reduce the hours he had applied for to 2am.

Mr Kemp explained that during an interview with Mr Rahman, he had stated that he did not work at the premises and it was the manager was in charge of the day to day running and the recruitment of staff. Mr Rahman confirmed that he did not work at the premise, however spent approximately 30 hours per week observing the running of the premises. At the request of the Chair, Mr Kemp advised Members of the opening hours of other local businesses in the area.

The Chair advised that the Sub Committee would at 8.05pm adjourn to consider the evidence presented. The Members reconvened at 8.25pm. The Chair reported that;

Members had listened carefully to the representations both for and against. Members noted that an application was refused in February 2010 and since then, issues of disorder have continued.

Furthermore, the premises had traded outside of licensing hours following the application being made. Based on this Members considered that the premises is not being properly managed. It was noted that Mr Rahman had stated in an previous interview that the manager managed the business.

It is not considered that the crime and disorder and the public nuisance licensing objectives would be met. The application was therefore refused. The decision was unanimous.

RESOLVED

That the new application for the premises license for Halal PFC, 400 Hackney Road, London E2 7AP be REFUSED.