At the request of the Chair, Ms Corinne Holland, Licensing Officer, introduced the report which detailed the application for a renewal of the premises licence for Sexual Entertainment Venues for Whites Gentleman’s Club, 32-38 Leman Street, London E1 8EW. It was noted that the licence consists of the basic licence, plus additional conditions relevant to that premises only, and in addition the Tower Hamlets Standard SEV conditions also applied and form part of the licence. It was further noted that there was one local resident objector. 

Mr David Dadds, Legal Representative on behalf of Whites questioned why the supporting information on the local demographics of the area had been submitted.

At the invitation of the Chair, Mr O”Toole advised the Committee in open session regarding the Council’s Schedule 3 Policy dated June 1st 2014 (SEV Policy). Mr O’Toole said the SEV Policy states that there was no locality within Tower Hamlets in which it would be appropriate to license a sex establishment. Accordingly, the appropriate number of sex establishments for each and every locality within Tower Hamlets is zero. Mr O’Toole advised the Committee that it could refuse to renew a license because of a change in the character of the relevant locality. However the Ward Profile dated June 2014 at Appendix 11, and the information in the Supplemental Agenda 2 did not amount to evidence of such a change for the purposes of the Committee hearing. Therefore he advised the Committee it was best they did not consider this issue any further this evening.

Mr Dadds was satisfied with the response and accepted this.

In response to questions from Members, Ms Holland confirmed the following;

-       That each room/booth had a CCTV camera.

-       That the plan on the agenda was from 2014 and an updated plan had not been submitted.

-       That after the unannounced visit detailed in p.22 of the agenda there had been no follow up visit, however a letter had been sent raising concerns.

At the request of the Chair Mr Dadds made his submission it was noted that the Applicants were not present at the meeting due to unforeseen circumstances and Mr Dadds had been instructed to act on their behalf. He questioned the supporting evidence provided and did not feel the relevance of this, as there were no changes since last year when the application for renewal was last granted.

Mr Dadds explained that there was only objection from a local resident, who had also made a generic objection for the latter application listed on the agenda. He said that he had tried to engage with resident via Licensing Services but the objector did not attempt to make contact. It was noted that there had been no objections from Responsible Authorities or local businesses. .

Mr Dadds concluded that the application should be granted with little or no weight given to the objector as he/she was not present at the meeting and therefore he was unable to challenge the objection.  Mr Dadds highlighted that there had been no complaints of ASB or noise nuisance and there were multiple CCTV cameras in each room. He said he would submit an updated plan of the premises and if Licensing Officers wanted to agree exact locations of the cameras this would be welcomed.

Members adjourned the meeting at 7.30pm for deliberations and reconvened at 7.50pm.

Accordingly, the Sub Committee unanimously

RESOLVED

That the application for a renewal of a Sexual Entertainment Venue Licence for Whites Gentleman’s Club, 32-38 Leman Street, London E1 8EW be GRANTED an identical licence .

At a hearing of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Licensing Committee on Tuesday September 26th September 2017 the Licensing Committee resolved to grant the renewal of a Sexual Entertainment Venue Licence to Whites Venues Ltd for the premises at 32-38 Leman Street, London E1 8EW upon the same terms as the existing SEV Licence.

The SEV Licence will expire on 31^st May 2018.

In reaching its decision the Licensing Committee had regard to Tower Hamlets’ Sex Establishment Licensing Policy made pursuant to Schedule 3 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982, the information contained in the Supplemental Agenda 2, and the single objection.

None of the relevant authorities objected to the renewal of the SEV Licence.

The single objector had provided potentially relevant information about locality, noise, and anti-social behaviour yet had chosen not to allow the licensing officer to disclose their identity to the applicant. The objector did not attend the hearing. The Licensing Committee had regard to the objector’s concerns but decided that in the circumstances they could not put any reliance on them in view of the manner in which they had been made.

The Licensing Committee had regard to the management of the premises,the outside appearance of the premises, and the times when SEV licensed activities took place, and were satisfied that it would not be appropriate to refuse the application on the basis of the proximity of the English Martyrs Primary School to the premises.

On behalf of the Applicant, Mr Dadds promised to provide Licensing Services by 4.00 pm on October 17th 2017 a current premises plan of the premiseswhich included all the information set out at Section K paragraph 10 of the Application.