(i)

considered the report from the Director for Place;

(ii)

considered representations from the applicant’s Solicitor as submitted at Appendices A and B to this decision and expanded on as follows –

·         if the premises could not open at all on a Sunday earnings would reduce.  The premises are in a locality which is wholly given over to entertainment, with premises either side and opposite, all of which are open on Sundays, serving food and alcohol.  These premises will not stand out from anyone else around them during these trading times;

(iii)

considered representations from the police  –

·         age verification – proposed that Challenge 25 should be adopted as the Police have found where other establishments have moved to Challenge 25 there have been a decrease in incidents although they acknowledged that there was no problem with this particular premise;

·         confirmed that the remaining representations regarding proposed conditions are contained in the written representation attached to the report;

·         confirmed that the Police generally had no problems with this establishment or this application;

(iv)

heard from the Plymouth Children’s Safeguarding Board Lead Officer –

·         there is statutory guidance for the Council and part of that is raising awareness in the private sector.  There have been a number of high profile cases across the country relating to child sexual exploitation and there is a need to raise the profile and be proactive by raising awareness;

·         there were no concerns about this application it was recommended that training should form part of the conditions.

(1)

for the trading hours of 9 pm to 5 am Monday to Sunday, excluding Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day when the premises shall be closed.  After considering the applicant’s solicitor’s representation on Sunday hours, Members considered it reasonable to depart from the Council’s policy in agreeing this condition;

(2)

as set out in Appendix C to this decision, subject to the following variations –

·         age verification – members have amended the conditions to require that the Challenge 25 condition proposed by the Police is imposed;

·         house rules – the Police conditions concerning payment for performance must be included so as to read “Payment for a performance will be by cash.  If a credit/debit card is offered the customers is to be taken to the duty manager or other person designated by that manager to complete any transaction.  The credit/debit card will always remain in the possession of its owner;

·         house rules – the condition regarding participation by any member of the audience shall read “relevant entertainment shall only be performed by the performers and no member of the audience shall be permitted to touch the performers and shall not undress the performers or themselves”;

·         house rules – members require a condition “that house rules and other relevant licensing conditions will be made available in languages to inform performers who are foreign nationals”;

·         house rules – members require a condition “that house rules are to be displayed in public/common areas of the premises”;

·         door supervision – members require a condition “that not less than two registered door supervisors shall be on duty at the premises when performers are performing except that when there are no more than 30 customers at the premises then there shall be at least one registered door supervisor and at least one manager on duty.  The management shall have access to a Plymouth based security firm to increase the registered door supervisors to at least two in the event of customer numbers being above 30”;

·         child safeguarding – members require the condition recommended in connection with safeguarding children “that the license holder and managers/supervisors must undertake structured child sexual exploitation training in accordance with the Plymouth Safeguarding Children’s Board’s approved training programme when this becomes available”.