Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors K Mills and C D Zosseder.

It was noted that, in accordance with Procedure Rule 4, Councillors D G Beaney and P M Brivio were appointed substitutes for Councillors C D Zosseder and K Mills respectively.

To receive any declarations of interest from Members in respect of business to be transacted on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest made by Members.

The Sub-Committee is requested to determine the application.

The following papers are attached.

(i)         Licensing Manager's report.

(ii)        Appendix A – Application to vary the premises licence

(iii)       Appendix B – Existing premises licence

(iv)       Appendix C – Map of the area

(v)        Appendix D - Representations

The procedure to be followed by the Sub-Committee is attached to this agenda.

The Sub-Committee considered an application for the variation of the current premises licence at Ocean Rooms, 32-36 Queen Street, Deal to: change the name of the premises to Blair’s; change the licensable area to include the Pool Room on the first floor; remove part of the current licensable area; and remove/amend a number of the conditions of the premises licence (all as specified in the agenda papers).

The following documentary evidence and/or other information was taken into account by the Sub-Committee:

(i)                   The Licensing Manager’s report

(ii)                 Application from Deal Leisure Ltd to vary the premises licence (appendix A of the report)

(iii)                Existing premises licence (appendix B of the report)

(iv)                Map of the area (appendix C of the report)

(v)                 Representation from Paul Bone on behalf of Deal Town Council (appendix D of the report).

On the basis of the representations of the applicant, the Responsible Authority and Other Persons, the Sub-Committee found the following facts to be established.

(i)           The variation application was made by Deal Leisure Ltd and represented by Paul Blair at the hearing and sought to remove part of the licensable area (as shown on pages 28, 29 and 30 of Appendix A of the agenda), add the Pool Rooms on the first floor to the licensable area, change the name of the premises to Blair’s, and remove/amend some of the conditions attached to the current premises licence (as shown on pages 17, 18 and 19 of Appendix A of the agenda).

(ii)          Representations from Paul Bone, on behalf of Deal Town Council (DTC), and Kent Police were received during the consultation process and cited the licensing objectives Prevention of Crime and Disorder and Public Safety in their objections.

(iii)         Deal Town Council, having cited the licensing objective Public Safety, objected to the removal of the ratio of door staff and instead, wanted a specific number of door staff to be specified in relation to the number of patrons on the premises. In addition, it commented that the taxi pick-up point should be limited to a period of 12 or 24 months only to allow the issues with the use of the Aldi (formerly Somerfield and Co-Op) car park to be resolved.

(iv)         Mr Blair had spoken to Mr Bone about Deal Town Council’s concerns. DTC objected to the proposed taxi pick up point from outside of the premises however, Mr Blair advised that the Aldi car park was accessed via a back gate and that he had been advised that planning permission did not allow use of that car park. At this time, given use of the car park was not permitted, condition 9 of the original licence conditions was therefore unenforceable and should be removed.

(v)          Mr Blair did not want taxis to use the car park of his premises as he thought it was safer for patrons to enter taxis from the road – the premises car park was to the side of the building.

(vi)         Kent Police, citing the Prevention  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43.