The Director for Public Health will submit a report in respect of La Roux, 33 Notte Street, Plymouth for the Variation of a premises licence under Section 34 of the Licensing Act 2003.

The Committee:

(a)   Considered the report from the Director of Public Health

(b)  Heard from the Premises Licence Holder and took into account both written and verbal representations as follows:

·         They were a small family run business and want to increase the licensed area to include decking with sale and supply of alcohol on the decking  ceasing at 10pm on all days. Alcohol would be supplied outside using a small mobile bar;

·         He considers that Plymouth needs to promote itself and needs activity as the city centre was not at its best at the moment;

·         He was seeking to create employment  but needs to be able to compete with neighbouring businesses which can serve outside until midnight;

·         He understands residents’ concerns and doesn’t want to upset them but wants to be successful;

·         CCTV covers the decking area and was always monitored;

·         All off sales were in a sealed container but in reality they had not had many off sales;

·         The toilets were regularly checked;

·         Never had any problems;

·         Staff receive regular training on serving alcohol. Challenge 21 operates, no alco-pops were sold and non-alcoholic drinks were provided;

·         Any music was played at low volume;

·         The door was self-closing door;

·         Waste was collected and the bin stores are out of site;

·         The premises was always closed and staff were gone by 12 – 12.30am;

·         The decking area can hold 30 people. They don’t believe noise from stacking of chairs comes from this premises as they only have 7 aluminium chairs and these were put away 12.30am;

·         The decking area was screened and includes foliage to create acoustic barrier. At present the decking area was used as a smoking area;

·         He tries to work with neighbours and have only had 3 complaints in total;

·         The outside area was monitored at all times and they have never had any reason for the police to be called. The premises was not a ‘lads’ bar and generally attracts couples and girls on a night out;

·         The outside area was generally used for sitting and they don’t encourage standing;

·         Some residents do frequent the bar;

·         Will endeavour to work closely with residents going forward and will adhere to what they were told to do;

(c)   Heard from the resident association and a resident and considered both the verbal and written representations as follows:

·         The use of the decking area after 9pm is in direct contravention of a planning condition which was put in place to protect residents from noise pollution. This was not taken into account as a breach of a planning condition was not relevant to any licensing objective. In considering this the committee had regard to the statutory guidance at paragraphs 14.64 and 14.65 and noted that, even if the application were granted to a later time than allowed by the planning condition, the applicant would still be bound by, and have to comply with, the planning restriction;

·         If the application were granted the premises licence holder would be in breach of their lease. This was not considered to be relevant as it did not relate to any licensing objective;

·         Granting the application was highly likely to cause noise disturbance from people arriving at, queuing for drinks on the decking and leaving the premises. Several residents have very complex health needs and noise disturbance caused by customers queuing will be extremely distressing and detrimental to their health. Residents will suffer loss of amenity, noise pollution and disturbance. The main cause of concern was that the area was to be used until 10pm. If it was only used until 9pm there wouldn’t have been any objection. This was considered to be relevant under the licensing objective of protection of public nuisance. Committee noted that the outside area had been used as a beer garden for some time and that there had been no representations from any responsible authority. However the committee considered it appropriate to address the concerns outlined by way of condition restricting the time during which the outside bar and area can be used as set out below;

·         The look of the decking area is unlikely to provide the impression to visitors that the Council should be hoping for the Mayflower celebrations. This was not considered to be relevant as it did not relate to any of the licensing objectives;

·         Extending the licensing hours would be likely to have significant negative impact on the health and well-being of residents. Whilst committee understood this concern it did not relate to any of the licensing objectives;

·         The application could have very significant negative impact on a person due to very complex disabilities which included autism, uncontrolled epilepsy, and visual impairment, sensory difficulties leading to sensory overload and extreme stress and anxiety. Their care ends at 10pm and they were affected by noise after this time. They were already disturbed by music being played outside in the evening, noise from patrons leaving after closing and staff closing up. Noise which may not disturb others affects this person because of his particular disabilities. This was considered relevant under the licensing objective of prevention of public nuisance however the committee could not be certain that the noise was coming from these premises due to the location of other premises in the area;

·         One resident is unable to have windows open due to smoking below. This led to the apartment becoming unbearably hot which can increase frequency and seriousness of seizures. This was considered to be relevant under the prevention of public nuisance licensing objective however the committee did not consider that the application would significantly change the use of the area in this regard as it was already used as a smoking area.

(d)  Agreed that having taken the above into account it was appropriate and proportionate to grant the licence as follows:

·         The condition relating to the supply of alcohol consumption off premises is restricted to Mon – Sun 9am – 7pm is removed from the licence;

·         The extension of the licence area to include the decking area was granted. In granting this the committee noted that in doing so it would not increase the capacity of the premises due to a restriction on the licence limiting the number of customers at any one time to 28 people;

·         The sale and supply of alcohol on the decking area will cease at 9pm on all days and the decking area must be cleared of patrons by 10pm. This condition was considered appropriate to promote the licensing objective of prevention of public nuisance.