The Committee will appoint a Chair and Vice-Chair for this particular meeting.

Agreed that Councillor Mrs Bowyer is appointed as Chair and Councillor Morris is appointed as Vice Chair for this meeting

Members will be asked to make any declarations of interest in respect of items on this agenda.

There were no declarations of interest in accordance with the code of conduct.

To receive reports on business which, in the opinion of the Chair, should be brought forward for urgent consideration.

There was no Chair’s urgent business.

1.1  The Director of Public Health will submit a report regarding an application to vary the premises licence to extend the terminal hour for all licensable activities and opening hours for a temporary period of 6 months in respect of Popworld situated at 18 Union Street, Plymouth.

The Committee - 

(a)   considered report from the Office of the Director for Public Health;

(b)  heard from the applicant’s legal representative that:

The application was to extend the terminal hour for all current licensable activities from 3am to 4am seven days a week and opening hours from 3am to 4.30am seven days a week and also to add to the list of notable days for non-standard timings in accordance with the report for a trial period of 6 months.

In addition there was an application to remove condition six under Annex 2 of the premises licence on the basis that the condition relates to the previous operator:

6. Managers are required to liaise with local neighbours as part of their duties and resolve any reasonable concerns in accordance with our Role in the Community Guidelines.

The following submissions were made in respect of the application:

·         The primary purpose of the application was dispersal, it had been noted by the applicant that when customers leave at 3am they do not disperse but stay in the area.  Allowing patrons to stay in the venue for an additional hour would allow for a more gradual dispersal.

·         Stonegate have used temporary event notices to extend the closing time on occasions and the experience from this is that people stay in the venue longer and have a more gradual dispersal.

·         Stonegate are committed to working with the Police, other Responsible Authorities and the Licensing Officers and the request for the variation to be on a trial basis of 6 months was made on advice from Police during the pre-application consultations.

·         There were no objections from Responsible Authorities and the Police licensing officer was very complimentary about the premises’ management

·         If the application is granted, the hours will revert back to the present times unless the applicant proactively pursues an application to make the variation permanent and careful monitoring will take place over the next 6 months to monitor customer dispersals.

·         With regard to cumulative impact the company promotes the licensing objectives and use door staff above the levels recommended by the Council. The applicant uses toughened glassware and through the joint experience of the Area Manager and Designated Premises Supervisor have driven up standards.

·         £285,000 had been invested in refurbishing the premises which has resulted in a layout which allows better internal supervision from the bar.

·         The Premises License holder has an excellent reputation in other challenging areas for promoting licensing objectives.

·         With regard to the representation made by the Other Party, the applicant has not been made aware of issues directly or by any Responsible Authority and would say that the representation is speculative and not based on evidence.

·         The Designated Premises supervisor is a former Chair of Club Watch and is now Chair of Best Bar None and attends Pub Watch meetings and sits on Evening and Night-time Economy meetings and is very involved in improving Plymouth’s night time economy.

·         The following answers were given in response to questions by Members of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

The Director of Public Health will submit a report regarding an application for Grant of a Premises Licence under Section 17 of the Licensing Act 2003 in respect of Co-op situated at Frogmore Avenue Plymouth, (Former Mermaid Public House).

The Committee heard that the hearing for the grant of a premises licence in respect of the Co-op at Frogmore Avenue has been dispensed with following the withdrawal of the representation received.

To consider passing a resolution under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the press and public from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it (they) involve(s) the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph(s) ? of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

There were no items of exempt business.