Agenda and minutes

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

Resolved:

That Councillor Hunter 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 of the Panel will summarise the procedure and announce the equal maximum amount of time for each party to speak for the hearing.

A.         Items 1 and 4 (b) will be undertaken in private session by the Panel and not in the Meeting Room.

B.         Items 2, 3, 4(a) and 4(c) will be recommended to the Panel to be held in public.

C.         The Panel may decide to exclude the public from all or part of a hearing where it considers that the public interest in so doing outweighs the public interest in the hearing, or that part of the hearing, taking place in public. (This includes a party and any person assisting or representing a party)

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

To consider an application by the Licensing Authority to review the licence issued in respect of Best Turkish Kebab, 160 Lytham Road, Blackpool, FY1 6DJ.

The Licensing Panel considered an application by the Licensing Authority to review the licence issued in respect of Best Turkish Kebab, 160 Lytham Road, Blackpool, FY1 6DJ.

Mr Lee Petrak, Trading Standards and Licensing Manager, summarised the concerns of the Licensing Authority regarding trading outside the licensed hours. He highlighted evidence from Just Eat, from observations and accounts of Trading Standards Officers and from CCTV imagery obtained from the premises regarding sales outside of licensed hours. He also expressed concern about the significant non-compliance of the operation of the premises and a failure to apply for an extension to the hours of operation to allow them to trade beyond the currently permitted hours. Mr Petrak reported that the licence holder had largely failed to act on the advice given at the last hearing from 19 September 2017. During that hearing, the licence was reviewed for similar reasons, and the Panel’s decision to impose a period of suspension had not been sufficient to ensure future compliance. As a result, Mr Petrak recommended that the licence be revoked.

The licence holder, Mr Bilen Duren, was not in attendance and was instead represented by Mr Istiklal Iliac who oversaw the routine running of the premises. He was also accompanied by a family member. During his representations to the Licensing Panel, he admitted that the premises had traded beyond its licensed hours but expressed remorse for the breaches outlined in the report. He added that his relationship with the licence holder had been dissolved for a period of at least six months and he wished to continue to operate the premises without involvement from Mr Duren. Mr Iliac also claimed that he had tried to apply to replace Mr Duren as the licence holder and to extend the licensed hours to allow trade later in the evening, though no evidence was produced to support this claim.

The Licensing Panel expressed serious concerns as to the failure to adhere to the licensed hours of the premises and that this had significantly undermined the Licensing Objectives. In addition, it appeared from the evidence presented and the representations made by Mr Iliac that no significant improvements had been made to the way in which the premises had been run since the last review hearing on 19 September 2017 and following the subsequent suspension period. Therefore, the Panel concluded it was necessary to revoke the Premises Licence to ensure that the Licensing Objectives were not undermined.

Resolved:

That the Premises Licence in respect of Best Turkish Kebab House, 160 Lytham Road be revoked.