Agenda and minutes

To appoint a Chairman of the Sub-Committee for the meeting.

Councillor Jon Beckerman, as Chairman of the Licensing and Regulated Entertainment Committee, was appointed Chairman of this sub-committee.

To note declarations of Members’ disclosable pecuniary interests, non-disclosable pecuniary interests and non-pecuniary interests in respect of items on the Agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

Report of the Licensing Officer detailing an application for a Personal Licence.

This item had been withdrawn from the agenda as the applicant had withdrawn their application.

Report of the Licensing Officer detailing an application for the variation of a premises licence for Brookmans Wines, 95 Bradmore Green, Brookmans Park.

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting, explained the process and all present introduced themselves.

Members received a report from the Licensing Officer which provided them with information concerning an application for a variation to a premises licence for Brookmans Wines.

The application requested that the hours of the business should be varied as follows:

Sale of Alcohol OFF    

Current            08.00 to 23.00 Mon to Sun

                        Proposed         08.00 to 04.00 Mon to Sun

The proposed hours were amended as requested by the Police to:

                                                08.00 to 01.00 Mon to Sat      08.00 to 00.00 Sun

Sale of Alcohol ON

                        Proposed         08.00 to 04.00 Mon to Sun

These hours were also amended as requested by the Police to:

                                                08.00 to 01.00 Mon to Sat      08.00 to 00.00 Sun

Opening Hours

                        Proposed         08.00 to 04.00 Mon to Sun

Amended as requested by the Police to:

                                                08.00 to 01.00 Mon to Sat      08.00 to 00.00 Sun

It was noted that the representation submitted by the Police had been withdrawn on the acceptance of Miss Kaur of the amended hours that they had proposed.

Members were advised that the applicant had been a licence holder since 2009 and that this was the first request for a variation since the premises licence was granted in 2005.

The Licensing Officer confirmed that all representors had been informed of the new proposed hours that had been agreed with the Police and asked whether they wished to withdraw their representations.

There had been no representations received from the Fire Service, Environmental Health or other consultees.

Members were informed that there had been additional representations, other than those in the pack, and also a petition.  However, these could not be accepted as they did not conform to the requirements (ie signature and address on the representation and all sheets showing the details of the petition).

Members asked whether the signatories of the petition had been informed that the petition was not valid and asking them to sign a valid petition.  The Licensing Officer stated that this had not been possible as the document had been received too late.

The applicant was then invited to speak in support of her application.  She said the following:

·         She had taken over the premises in July 2009 and had worked hard since then to bring the business up to a good standard.

·         There had been several occasions when off-licence chains such as Bargain Booze had approached her to take over the business, but she had not wanted to run a chain, but rather a specialist shop.

·         She imported wines, beers and spirits from all over the world such as the USA.

·         There had been changes in the area with a lot of young professionals moving in and trends were changing.  People no longer went to bed at 10 or 11pm.

·         It was a respectable area and her business was well respected and had a niche market and was therefore different to other off-licences.

·         She always made sure that she was within the law  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.