(a)

considered the report from the Director of Public Health;

(b)

considered the written and verbal representations from and on behalf of the Applicant as follows:-

i.

he considers the premises to be a well-run establishment;

ii.

he has engaged well with the current police licensing officer and has done since the officer was allocated in early 2018. He believes they have a good working relationship;

iii.

he is a member of Pub Watch and attends regular meetings with the police and licensing officers with a view to fulfilling the licensing objectives;

iv.

the requirement for 2 door staff was initially imposed as a condition of licence after a series of incidents which he believes were exaggerated by the police. This has been the subject of a formal complaint, as a result of which, the police had apologised;

v.

he accepts that there was an issue with door staff at that time which had been resolved by changing door staff. He now employs, 4 nights a week, a door supervisor who is SIA trained and has 19 years’ experience;

vi.

the Premises are a safe environment for people to visit. The staff are fully trained and have CCTV radios that monitor other establishments to warn of disruptive people in the area;

vii.

he does not consider that a reduction to one door supervisor will cause a return to the previous issues as the premises are now much quieter than at the time the condition for 2 door staff on Friday and Saturday nights was originally imposed. Mutley Plain as a whole is much quieter with 5 premises that have ceased to trade over the last 4 months;

viii.

as a business the premises are not immune to the harsh realities of life; the premises needs to pay its bills;  the need for a second doorman puts an extra burden on the business which is unnecessary and causing financial problems; to keep the doorman he will have to cut other staff hours;

ix.

he does not consider that the reduction sought will cause any problems;

x.

he accepted that there were two licensed premises on Mutley Plain that were busy but believed that to be because they are food based premises. He understood that one of them was 18% down in trade;

xi.

whilst the capacity for the premises is 120, the number of customers no longer reaches anywhere near that figure. He stated the average number of customers after 2200hrs is between 6 and 8. They do not tend to have an influx when other premises close;

xii.

he had produced 4 photographs which he states were taken on different times and days and which demonstrate how few customers they have late at night;

xiii.

it is accepted that there is a  need for  one door supervisor due to the proximity of the premises to the city centre; if the number was reduced to one and there were incidents the condition could be reinstated; it is in their  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.