Agenda item

To consider a Temporary Event Notice for Flame Inn, 4 Queen Street, Blackpool, FY1 1PD.

A. Application and representations submitted. To consider the attached report.

B. Determination of the application for a new Premises Licence – Flame Inn.

The Licensing Panel will indicate how the decision is to be communicated to interested parties.

The Licensing Panel considered a Temporary Event Notice for Flame Inn, 4 Queen Street, Blackpool, FY1 1PD, to provide Late Night Refreshment to 04.00 on the evenings of 27 and 28 May and to 03.00 on 29 May 2022.

The applicant, Lasma Rozite, appeared before the Panel and explained that the Temporary Event Notice had been applied for to demonstrate that the venue would be operated responsibly as a late night takeaway before an application was made to vary the existing licence to extend the hours permanently. The premises had previously traded as a restaurant but changes had recently been made to the Premises Licence to remove the permission to supply alcohol and provide entertainment and the intention going forwards was that it would operate predominantly as a late night takeaway with a limited amount of seating.

The Panel was advised that Ms Rozite had experience in running an existing town centre restaurant and had held a Personal Alcohol licence since 2015. Whilst there was no intention to sell alcohol at Flame Inn, Ms Rozite believed her experience in alcohol licensed premises had equipped her with the ability to understand and deal with difficult or intoxicated customers should she encounter them late into the evening. In her opinion, allowing the provision of late night refreshment at an additional premises on Queen Street would not place any extra burden on Policing the area and would instead assist in dispersing patrons into smaller groups by having an additional venue.

PC Andrew Taylor presented the objections on behalf of Blackpool Police Licensing Unit. Members were informed that the venue fell within Claremont ward which had the highest number of alcohol related Police incidents in Lancashire with 81 Police logs and 33 recorded crimes on Queen Street in the last month. In the Police’s opinion, the applicant had insufficient experience in operating late night takeaways and the granting of the Notice would only add to the existing issues relating to the licensing objectives of Crime and Disorder and Public Safety. He suggested that the premises should initially operate to its current terminal hour of 01.00 to test the impact on the area before applying to extend the hours to 04.00.

Answering questions in relation to the conditions on the existing Premises Licence and the requirement to provide door staff, Ms Rozite confirmed that the Licence had retained the door staff condition when the premises was repurposed from a restaurant selling alcohol. PC Taylor informed the Panel that the condition only required door staff to be employed based on a risk assessment by the licence holder and therefore expressed concern that there was no obligation to provide a fixed number of door staff.

The Panel considered the information provided by both parties, noting that as Temporary Event Notices were a “light touch” system it could not add any conditions to the Notice that were not already endorsed on the Premises Licence. It noted the Police’s evidence that the premises was in an area which already suffered from high levels of crime and disorder and whilst acknowledging the applicant’s experience in operating a restaurant, was not satisfied that permitting the Temporary Event Notice to go ahead would not add to the existing problems in the area. It therefore agreed to issue a Counter Notice to refuse the Temporary Event Notice for Flame Inn.

Resolved:

To issue a Counter Notice to refuse the Temporary Event Notice for Flame Inn, 4 Queen Street, for 27-29 May 2022.