(i)

considered the report from the Director for Community Services;

(ii)

considered the written representations from the responsible authorities;

(iii)

heard from the applicant and his witnesses that –

following a meeting with Environmental Health on 12 March 2010 the operating schedule had been extended to include the following;

the style and mood of any music or entertainment at the premises was to be classified with the emphasis on background music;

there would be no music after midnight feeding into the outside areas, and even up to that period would be very light background music;

after 4 am they wished to take the music down a further notch so this was virtually non-existent/very low background level to bring the atmosphere to be more conducive and an enhancement of a safer environment;

to ensure a strong winding down period they would accept a no entry after 5am, which would allow the premise to wind down in an orderly manner and fashion;

there would be no sale of alcohol during the last half hour of operation time of the premises.  The only beverages accessible would be soft drinks including tea and coffee, which would also enhance the wind down of the premise;

they were willing to implement any further minor proposals that would help this application go through successfully;

it was a very small bar with a capacity of 50 persons and it was not envisaged that it would cause any problems to the surrounding areas and later opening would actually spread the capacity of the university business which was targeted in a more orderly manner.

(iv)

heard from a representative of Environmental Health that –

a representation had been made relating to the prevention of public nuisance and public safety licensing objectives;

the premise was situated within a cumulative impact area;

the concentration of licensed premises remained consistent in this area, and was strongly associated with the student night-time scene, predominantly operating as vertical drinking establishments;

the applicant had not been able to demonstrate within their operating schedule, how there would be no negative cumulative impact on one or more of the licensable objectives;

the operating schedule failed to address the potential impact from extended licensable activity at the premises, and consideration had also not been given to the potential impact of patrons departing at close of business;

there were cumulative effects of increased music activity, and noise and litter generated from patrons smoking in the outside designated area which had not been considered;

the current terminal hours for licensable activities at this premises in their opinion contributed towards a staggered dispersal scheme, reducing the potential impact of persons under drink leaving the vicinity during the early hours of the morning;

businesses and persons living in the vicinity (including directly above the premises) were likely to be affected by the proposed application.  It was also of concern that people living in the vicinity of the North Hill, Mutley and Greenbank areas would also be further  ...  view the full minutes text for item 64.

(i)

considered the report from the Director for Community Services;

(ii)

considered all written representations;

(iii)

heard from the applicant’s representative that –

the application for review related to the licensing objectives of the prevention of crime and disorder and the prevention of public nuisance;

the premises were located on a busy road with mixed commercial and residential use and was in a designated conservation area;

the most prominent acoustic feature of the night time environment was from live music on Friday, Saturday and Monday evenings;

the premise was old and was not designed to contain the volume of noise created by live music, entertainment, karaoke and recorded music;

a particular aggravating feature was caused by penetrative bass and vibration creating structure born noise transmission;

noise breakout into the street was affecting residents and continuing to disturb the nature and character of the area;

during routine ‘out of hours’ noise monitoring officers had witnessed several breaches of licence conditions and noise amounting to a nuisance and complaints had been received regarding unlicensed activity taking place;

support had been provided to the premises however attempts to resolve the complaint through discussion with the management had little success;

officers had been subjected to threatening and intimidating behaviour on two separate occasions from patrons of the premise who were uncontrolled by responsible persons at the premises indicating a significant fault in management controls;

the department had been made aware of alleged intimidation and victimisation directed against one complainant;

a total of five complaints had been received raising concerns over the growing noise disturbance in the vicinity emanating from these premises;

having worked with two Designated Persons Supervisors (DPS) since June 2009 had concluded that live music entertainment was not suited to the premises and the business had failed to act in a responsible and approachable manner and as a result Reds had consistently failed to promote the licensing objectives to prevent public nuisance and to prevent crime and disorder.

(iv)

heard from a representative of Devon & Cornwall Police that –

on 13 August 2009 it was reported by a member of the public that he had been threatened by a male from Reds Bar as he walked into the courtyard of his property. The DPS was standing outside the premise watching and took no action to prevent this incident;

on 15 August 2009 the reporting person was intimidated again by the same person. He stated that he had observed drinks being sold until 2am and patrons were shouting and fighting outside the premises;

on 15 August 2009 employees of Plymouth City Council were intimidated by customers of the premise and had felt threatened while the management and DPS had taken no action to assist;

on 17 August 2009 the complainant reported damage to his vehicle;

from police records seven complaints of anti social/rowdy/nuisance behaviour had been received since 17 August 2009.

(v)

heard from interested parties that –

there was a high level of music  ...  view the full minutes text for item 65.