Agenda and minutes

The Licensing Panel considered the appointment of a Chairman for the meeting.

Resolved:

That Councillor Hutton be appointed Chairman for the meeting.

Members are asked to declare any interests in the items under consideration and in doing so state:-

(1) the type of interest concerned

(2) the nature of the interest concerned; and

(3) whether they have or have not sat on a Planning Committee which has previously considered a planning application in respect of a licensed premises which is also subject to consideration for a premises licence as part of the agenda for this meeting.

If any Member requires advice on declarations of interests, they are advised to contact the Head of Democratic Governance in advance of the meeting.

(Members are asked to also pay particular attention to the guidance sheet on interests supplied with the agenda).

There were no declarations of interest on this occasion.

The Chairman explained the procedure for the meeting including that an equal time limit of twenty minutes had been allocated for all parties.

a. APPLICATION AND REPRESENTATIONS SUBMITTED. To consider the attached report

b. DETERMINATION OF THE APPLICATION FOR THE VARIATION OF A PREMISES LICENCE- HOME AND HQ

c. ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE DECISION FOR THE VARIATION OF A PREMISES LICENCE- HOME AND HQ

The Licensing Panel considered an application for a variation of the Premises Licence in respect of Home and Headquarters, Talbot Road.  The nature of the variation was to allow the venue to open until 6am. Objections had been received from the Local Authority Licensing Service and Lancashire Constabulary hence the application being referred to the Panel.

The applicants, Mr Michael Nordwind, Mr Mark Nordwind and Mr Jason Barr were in attendance and made representations. They explained that they had requested permission to extend the hours for recorded music, entertainment of a similar description and sale of alcohol to 06.00 on Friday and Saturday evenings and the addition of late night refreshment as a licensable activity on Friday and Saturday from 23.00 to 05.00 in the Headquarters section of the premises. The applicants claimed the application had not been entirely financially motivated and formed a legitimate response to a demand from many of the club’s customers which would help to make the business more competitive both locally and nationally. It was suggested that more visitors were coming from around the UK to visit the club and in order to continue to serve these customers the club would need to open later to entice big name DJ’s to perform and to deploy appropriate online marketing and ticketing to cover such events. It was also suggested that the extended opening hours would serve to create an obvious distinction between bar and club venues and therefore adjust people’s expectations accordingly. The applicants advised that, should the extension be allowed, they did not intend to routinely open after 4am and would only do so during high season and for select high profile events/weekends.

Mr Michael Nordwind reported that the proposal had been built around the concept of staggered opening and closing time for each of the venue’s three themed floors. This way, he claimed, dispersal of revellers would be much more organised and gradual so as to minimise the impact of intoxicated individuals leaving the premises. Michael Nordwind added that he would guarantee that no individuals from outside would be permitted entry to the venue after 4:15am, should the variation be granted and that all guests admitted into Headquarters would be those already in the building on its lower levels of Home and the Urban Lounge. The applicants claimed to have a good track record of working to a high standard with the Police, the Local Authority and others to reduce the impact of the club in the immediate vicinity. Use of extensive CCTV within the club and outside, along with appropriate numbers of trained door staff and refusal of entry to those deemed to be too intoxicated, were cited as examples of good practice already in place at the venue.

Referring to the number of visitors at the neighbouring Flamingo nightclub when operating at capacity, Mr Marshall, Head of Licensing Service, who was in attendance, suggested that the figures described by Mr Nordwind were not indicative of the numbers within that single venue  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.