Agenda item

Report of the Solicitor to the Council detailing an application for a review of a premises licence by Hampshire Constabulary in respect of Old Fat Cat, 166 Above Bar Street, Bargate, Southampton, SO14 7DU, attached.

 

The Sub-Committee considered the application by Hampshire Constabulary for a review of a premises licence in respect of Old Fat Cat, 166 Above Bar Street, Bargate, Southampton, SO14 7DU.  (Copy of report circulated with the agenda and appended to signed minutes.

 

Mr B Bagwall, Operations Director, Greene King Brewing and Retailing Limited, Mr J Walton, Area Manager, Mr A Flett, Designated Premises Supervisor, Mr A Woods, Solicitor for Old Fat Cat, PC H Channell and PC N Prior were present and with the consent of the Chair, addressed the meeting.

 

The Sub-Committee considered the decision in confidential session in accordance with Licensing Act 2003 (Hearings) Regulations 2005.

 

RESOLVED

 

(i)  that the request for a suspension of 48 hours be refused;  and

 

(ii)  that the following additional conditions agreed between the parties as set out below be attached to the licence:-

 

 

1.  CHALLENGE 25

 

·  There will be a Challenge 25 policy operated at the premises.

Challenge 25 meaning that the holder of the premises licence shall ensure that every individual who appears to be under 25 years of age seeking to purchase or be supplied with alcohol at or from the premises shall produce means of identification acceptable to the licensing authority proving that individual to be 18 years of age or older. If the person seeking alcohol is unable to produce acceptable means of identification, no sale or supply of alcohol is to be made to or for that person.

 

2.  STAFF TRAINING

 

·  All staff who sell alcohol at the premises shall be trained to APLH (Award for Personal Licence Holder) level. All sales of alcohol must be directly supervised by a personal licence holder until such staff have achieved training to APLH level.

 

·  All Staff must be trained regarding appropriate precautions to be taken to prevent the sale of alcohol to persons under the age of 18.

 

·  Records must be kept of such training which are signed and dated by the member of staff who has received the training. All staff must receive refresher training of such precautions every six months as a minimum and records of the training signed and dated by the member of staff  must be kept.  Records must be retained and be available for inspection by Hampshire Constabulary and the Licensing Authority upon request .

 

·  The DPS ( designated premises supervisor)  must be trained to BIIAB Level 2.

 

3.  LICENCELINK/PUB WATCH

 

·  The premises licence holder or his nominated representative will maintain membership of any existing Barwatch scheme or join any future scheme that is approved/supported by the police.

S/he will ensure co-operation on the part of the premises with the relevant scheme, abide by any rules and ensure that the meetings are regularly attended on behalf of the premises.

 

4  INCIDENT BOOK

 

·  An incident book will be provided and maintained at the premises and The incident book must remain on the premises at all times and must be made available to the police for inspection upon request and there will be a daily debrief of door staff at the close of business to the reasonable satisfaction of Hampshire Constabulary and approved in writing.

 

5.  CCTV (To replace point 5, Annex 2 currently on the premises licence

 

·  The premises shall have sufficient CCTV cameras located within the premises to cover all public areas including outside of the premises covering the entrance/exit.

 

·  The CCTV system must be able to cope with all levels of illumination throughout the premises as well as outside areas.

 

·  The CCTV system must be operating at all times whilst the premises are open for any licensable activity.

 

·  All CCTV equipment shall have a constant and accurate time and date generation.

 

·  There shall be sufficient members of trained staff available during operating hours to be able to provide viewable copies at the request of the Police or authorised officer. 

 

·  Any images recovered must be in a format that can be readily taken away and viewed on any computer operating on any windows based programme acceptable to the police, or DVD player.  This must be without the requirement for additional software to be installed.

 

 

·  Records must be made on a weekly basis and kept for inspection to show that the CCTV system is functioning correctly and that data is being securely retained.

 

·  CCTV warning signs shall be fitted in public places.

 

·  Recordings shall be kept for a minimum of 28 days..

 

·  The DPS or Premises Manager must be able to demonstrate the CCTV system has measures to prevent recordings being tampered with ie password protected.

 

6.  A written record shall be kept at the premises of any persons that the DPS has authorised to supply alcohol.  Further when the  DPS is absent from the premises a list will be made available for inspection, stating who will be managing the venue.

 

7.  To clarify point 3 (a) in Annex 2 on the current premises licence with regards to what is meant by “external background music” – to state: “For the avoidance of doubt no music to be played outside the premises after 21:00 hours.”

 

REASONS FOR DECISION

 

The Sub-Committee considered the application for the review of the premises licence and gave regard to the Licensing Act 2003, the Licensing Objectives, statutory guidance, the adopted Statement of Licensing Policy and representations made, both written and given orally by all parties.

 

The Sub-Committee noted that the facts of the two failed test purchases and the circumstances pertaining thereto were not disputed between the police and the premises licence holder.  It viewed these failures very seriously as the protection of children from harm was of paramount importance.

 

The Sub-Committee also noted the agreement between the police and the premises licence holder on the additional conditions that were to be imposed to promote this licensing objective and was pleased to include those conditions upon the licence as necessary and proportionate in the furtherance of the licensing objective of the protection of children from harm.  Nonetheless, the sub-committee was very concerned that these matters were not satisfactorily in place so as to have prevented both failures, more especially the second failure. 

 

The Sub-Committee considered very carefully the representation by the police that a short (48 hours) period of suspension of the premises licence should be imposed as a deterrent .

 

 

Whilst the Committee considered the representation on behalf of the premises licence holder that such a suspension would be in the nature of a punishment and not a deterrent, the Committee was satisfied that in appropriate circumstances it could impose a period of suspension as a deterrent.

 

The Sub-Committee determined that in all the particular circumstances of this case, especially that all the required additional training and additional controls requested by the police were in place and had been completed, thereby reducing the likely risk of issues reoccurring as far as possible, the suspension of the licence would be disproportionate.