At the request of the Chair, Mr Nick Kemp, Licensing Officer, introduced the report which detailed the application for a review of the premises license forCinnamon, 134 Brick Lane, London E1 6RU. It was noted that the review had been triggered by Trading Standards and supported by the Metropolitan Police and Planning Enforcement.

At the request of the Chair, Mr John McCrohan, Trading Standards Manager referred to his statement on page 163 and explained that a test purchase was carried out at the premises on 22^nd September 2010, where the test purchasers were induced to enter the premises by a tout who escorted them to the restaurant. Licensing officers went to the premises after the test purchasers had left and were also accosted by a tout offering inducements to enter the premises. It was noted that the premises already had an existing condition on their license, not to allow touting. It was also noted that the business had been operating without a Premises Licence Holder or Designated Premises Supervisor for several months and had breached its licensing and opening hours, and staff at the premises had abusive towards Council officers.

Mr McCrohan concluded by stating that at the time there was no Premise Licence Holder and no Designated Premises Supervisor, coupled with the use of touts and the behaviour of the staff towards council licensing officers, and the breach of trading hours, he requested Members to consider revocation of the license.  

PC Alan Cruickshank and Andrew Dickson referred to their statements contained within the agenda and made no additional submissions other then their statements contained within the agenda.

At the request of the Chair, Mr Md Abdul Rouf briefly stated that he had taken over the premises two months ago and that the incident had occurred under the previous ownership and assured Members that touting would not take place again. He urged members to reconsider the application as he needed to the business operational in order to manage financially.

At 6.50pm, the Chair excluded the press and public and went into the private session of the meeting to consider the restricted appendix of the report. 

At 7.10pm the Chair opened the meeting to the press and public to consider the remainder of the application. 

Members continued to ask questions of Trading Standards, who confirmed that touting had occurred for the premises, as the tout had caused obstruction, nuisance and offered inducements to the test purchasers. Mr Rouf confirmed that he had only got involved in the business in November 2010. It was further noted that five members of staff had been dismissed and five new employees had been recruited under Mr Rouf’s management. Mr McCrohan confirmed that Trading Standards had not witnessed any further touting relating to Cinnamon.

The Chair advised that the Sub Committee would at 7.25pm adjourn to consider the evidence presented. Members reconvened at 8.20pm. The Chair reported that;

Members having had a lengthy deliberation and taking into consideration all the evidence presented felt that it was not as straight forward as considered. Members believed that Mr Abdul Hakim was still involved in the business and Mr Rouf’s explanations were not considered credible.

Whilst Members were not considering the transfer of the licence however, they did consider that there had been wilful breaches of both touting conditions and hours of operation. Therefore Members considered that taking no action was not appropriate, Members also considered that just imposing conditions was not appropriate. Consideration was therefore given to either revocation or suspension and on a 2/1 majority vote it was agreed that the license be suspended for three months and the license to be varied, in order for the licensable hours of operation to match the hours recommended by Planning together with additional conditions.

RESOLVED

That the review application for the premises license for Cinnamon, 134 Brick Lane, London E1 6RU be GRANTED in part with the suspension of the licence for three months, variation of hours and the following conditions to be imposed immediately.

Suspension

Three months suspension. (the commencement date for suspension, to be detailed, in the decision notification letter)

Sale of alcohol

Sunday to Thursday from 11:30 hours to 00:00 hours (midnight)

Friday & Saturday from 11:30 hours to 01:00 hours (the following day)

Late Night Refreshments

Sunday to Thursday from 23:00 hours to 00:00 hours (midnight)

Friday & Saturday from 23:00 hours to 01:00 hours (the following day)

Hours Premises is Open to the Public

Sunday to Thursday from 23:00 hours to 00:30 hours (the following day)

Friday & Saturday from 23:00 hours to 01:30 hours (the following day)

Conditions

1. That Mr Abdul Hakim, of 36 Quaker Street, London E1, date of birth 15/04/1979, shall not be permitted to be on the premises whilst licensable activities take place.

2. That Mr Abdul Hakim, of 36 Quaker Street, London E1, date of birth 15/04/1979, shall not be involved in the business or the management of premises.