Agenda and minutes

Councillor McPherson was appointed as Chair for the meeting. 

No declarations of interest were made.

All parties noted the procedure.

The Chair advised that the Committee had accepted a late submission of documentation from the applicant in consultation with the legal advisor. The documents were not of a material consideration, no additional statements or text but a pack of photographs showing the interior and exterior and location of the premises, a copy of the food menu and site layout, all of which would not affect the Officer’s report in anyway.

The Licensing Enforcement Officer presented the report and outlined the application.

In response to Member’s questions the Licensing Officer said the following:

      i.         Confirmed the application was for the sale of alcohol from midday to 10pm, Monday to Saturday.

    ii.         Dancing publicised after 10pm was not considered a licensable activity between the hours of 8am to 11pm.

   iii.         Opening hours were not considered forceable under the Licensing Act 2023. The Licensing Authority would only investigate at any violations of licensed activity after 10pm.

  iv.         Confirmed an e-mail had been received from a member of the public stating the notice of the application was not on public display. Officers had previously received evidence that the notice had been, so contacted the agent immediately who responded this had been taken down due to the windows being cleaned. The notice was put up straight away and it was felt this was not enough to reset the representation period as it had been adequately dealt with by the agent.

    v.         The application received covered the entire building including the rear extension as shown in the plans of Appendix 2 of the Officer’s report.

  vi.         The applicant had sold alcohol under several temporary events notices (TEN). This application was new as there was no existing licence.

 vii.         If residents and / or local businesses experienced excessive noise from the premises or possible breeches of the licence, this should be reported to the Environmental Health Team to investigate, which could lead to a review of the license.

viii.         Individuals over the age of 18 years could apply for a TEN to provide licensable activities. There was a limit in place as to how many times a person (and premises) could apply in a calendar year. 

  ix.         The TEN application had to specify the hours that the licence would cover; over midnight would count as two days of the allowance for the calendar year.  

    x.         An Application for a standard TEN was ten working days before the date of the event. Police and Environmental Health were the only authorities who were consulted on the application and could submit an objection against the TEN.

  xi.         An application for a ‘late TEN’ would be five clear working days before the event, the applicant would lose the right to appeal should a notice be refused by the Police or Environmental Health.

 xii.         When considering the licence this would include the playing of recorded music and amplified live music until 10pm.

xiii.         Each licensing application had to be considered on a separate bases and therefore could not comment if a licenced premises encouraged an increase in noise from those using the venue.

xiv.         The idea of ‘drinking up time’ in theory assisted with the dispersing of patrons quietly leaving a venue on a staggered basis.

xv.         Many businesses in Cambridge had the ‘drinking up time’ in place (usually recommended by the Police) and then a closing time, which wasn’t enforced by the Licensing Act. 

xvi.         How a business advertised their closing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24/4/Lic