Agenda item
162 Buckingham Palace Road, SW1W 9TR
Minutes:
WESTMINSTER CITY COUNCIL LICENSING SUB-COMMITTEE NO. 4
(“The Committee”)
Thursday 12 October 2023
Membership: Councillor Angela Piddock (Chair),
Councillor Judith Southern
Councillor Karen Scarborough
Officer Support: Legal Adviser: Steve Burnett
Policy Officer: Aaron Hardy
Committee Officer: Katherine Stagg
Presenting Officer: Karyn Abbott
Other Parties: Chris Lucan (Licensing Guys) and Ola Akinyemi and Grant Howell for the Applicant, Tag Licences Limited
Application for a New Premises Licence for 162 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 9TR – 23/04788/LIPN
FULL DECISION
Premises:
162 Buckingham Palace Road,
London
SW1W 9TR
Applicant
Tag Licences Limited
Ward
Knightsbridge and Belgravia
Summary of Application
This is an application for a new premises licence under the Licensing Act 2003 (“The Act”). The premises intend to operate as workspace, including private offices but with the benefit of the sale of alcohol.
The premises is a luxury serviced office building providing shared and private offices and workspaces.
Cumulative Impact Zone.
None
Special Consideration Zone:
None
There is a resident count of 17
Application
To Permit:
Sale of alcohol (Both)
Thursday and Friday 15.30 to 20.00
Opening Times
Mondays to Sundays 07.00 to 22.00
Representations Received
· Kudzaishe Mondhlani – Environmental Health Services (EHS) (Withdrawn)
· Mrs Mary Regnier-Leigh
Issues raised by Objectors
There are too many licensed Premises in the area and adding an additional 07.00 until 22.00 licence will fail the Licensing Objectives.
Policy Considerations
Policy HRS 1 states:
A. Applications within the core hours set out below in this policy will generally be granted for the relevant premises uses, subject to not being contrary to other policies in the Statement of Licensing Policy.
COMBO1
2. Applications outside the West End Cumulative Impact Zone for premises that propose to operate as a ‘combined use premises’ will be considered on their merits and subject to:
1The application meeting the requirements of policies CD1,
PS1, PN1 and CH1.
2. The hours for licensable activities for the relevant use being within the council’s Core Hours Policy HRS1.
SUBMISSIONS
1. Karyn Abbott summarised the application to be heard.
2. Mr Lucan on behalf of the Applicant made preliminary submissions on behalf of the Applicant. He stated that the sole representation against the application from resident, Mrs Mary Regnier-Leigh, was not relevant and should be disregarded as it does not mention the individual Licensing Objectives or provide evidence of why the objectives are not being met. He quoted the case of Thwaits.
3. Legal Advisor, to the Committee Mr Burnett advised the Committee and Mr Lucan that the representation stated that adding another Premises Licence to the area would “fail to meet the Licensing Objectives.” Any representations made by an objector must be ‘relevant’, namely that the representation must relates to one or more of the licensing objectives. This representation relates to all the Licensing objectives, and it is right that the Committee to consider the contents and exercised their wide discretion, giving the appropriate weight to the evidence as they see fit.
4. Mr Lucan continued by informing the Committee that the Premises is a luxury workspace of 64 members and no access to the public. Membership is £9000 per month and includes the cost of the sale of alcohol.
5. No alcohol will leave the building on an off sales basis. The red lined area/social spaces on the plans are where alcohol will be sold but the off-sales will permit office users to take alcoholic drinks to other parts of the office block.
6. The brands of alcohol available are limited and sales will be supervised by staff.
7. Visitors and Premises users must register to enter the Premises and there are also digital recognition systems on site to prevent general access.
8. The Premises shall not be hired to external members of the public.
9. The Applicant have other licensed sites operating in the same way without issues or cause for concerns from the Relevant Authorities or residents.
DECISION
Application GRANTED subject to the following conditions in addition to the Mandatory Conditions applicable to this type of application.
The Committee has determined an application for a grant of a New Premises Licence under the Licensing Act 2003.
Having carefully considered the committee papers, the additional papers and the submissions made by all of the parties orally, the Committee has decided, after taking into account all of the individual circumstances of this particular case and the promotion of the four licensing objectives: -
1. To grant permission for:
To Permit:
Sale of alcohol (Both)
Thursday and Friday 15.30 to 20.00
Opening Times
Mondays to Sundays 07.00 to 22.00
2. Relevant Mandatory Conditions to apply.
3. Conditions proportionate and appropriate to from part of the operating schedule.
9. CCTV system requirements including retention of recordings and viewing on request:
a. The premises shall install and maintain a comprehensive CCTV system as per the minimum requirements of the Westminster Police Licensing Team.
b. All entry and exit points shall be covered enabling frontal identification of every person entering in any light condition.
c. The CCTV system shall continually record whilst the premises is open for
licensable activities and during all times when customers remain on the premises and shall include the external area immediately outside the premises entrance.
d. All recordings shall be stored for a minimum period of 31 days with date and time stamping.
e. Viewing of recordings shall be made available immediately upon the request of Police or authorised officer throughout the entire 31-day period.
10. A staff member from the premises who is conversant with the operation of the CCTV system shall be on the premises at all times when the premises is open. This staff member must be able to provide a Police or authorised council officer copies of recent CCTV images or data with the absolute minimum of delay when requested.
11. Members shall not enter or leave the premises except via the front reception desk area or the dedicated members’ entrance on Ecclestone Place, unless in the event of an emergency.
12. Outside of the hours authorised for the sale of alcohol and whilst the premises are open to members, the licence holder shall ensure that all alcohol within the premises is secured in a locked store room or the locked serveries so as to prevent access to the alcohol by both members and staff.
13. A record shall be kept detailing all refused provisions of alcohol. The record should include the date and time of the refusal and the name of the member of staff who refused the provision. The record shall be available for inspection at the premises by the police or an authorised officer of the City Council at all times whilst the premises is open.
14. An incident log shall be kept at the premises and made available on request to an authorised officer of the City Council or the Police. It must be completed within 24 hours of the incident and shall record the following:
a. all crimes reported to the venue
b. all ejections of patrons
c. any complaints received concerning crime and disorder
d. any incidents of disorder
e. all seizures of drugs or offensive weapons
f. any faults in the CCTV system, searching equipment or scanning equipment.
g. any visit by a relevant authority or emergency service.
15. Notices shall be prominently displayed at all exits requesting patrons to respect the needs of local residents and businesses and leave the area quietly.
16. Patrons permitted to temporarily leave and then re-enter the premises, e.g., to smoke or make a phone call, shall not be permitted to take alcohol with them.
17. A Challenge 25 proof of age scheme shall be operated at the premises where the only acceptable forms of identification are recognised photographic identification cards, such as a driving licence, passport or proof of age card with the PASS Hologram.
18. The licensable activities authorised by this licence and provided at the premises shall be ancillary to the main function of the premises as offices, where members of the public are not admitted.
19. The supply of alcohol at the premises shall only be to clients, associates, members of staff, agents, and their bona fide guests.
20. No noise generated on the premises, or by its associated plant or equipment, shall emanate from the premises nor vibration be transmitted through the structure of the premises which gives rise to a nuisance.
21. Off sales shall be limited to consumption in the office building only.
22. There shall be no advertisement of the licensed facilities outside of the premises.
23. No super-strength beer, lagers, ciders or spirit mixtures of 5.5% ABV (alcohol by volume) or above shall be sold at the premises, except for premium beers and ciders.
This is the Full Decision reached by the Licensing Sub-Committee
This Decision takes immediate effect.
Licensing Sub-Committee
12 October 2023
Supporting documents:
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Report 2304788LIPN Redacted, item 2.
PDF 528 KB - Restricted enclosure View the reasons why document 2./2 is restricted