Agenda and minutes

The Sub-Committee will elect its Chairman for the meeting.

It was moved by Councillor Winfield, seconded by Councillor Casey and:-

RESOLVED – That Councillor V Guglielmi be elected Chairman for the meeting.

The Committee is asked to note any apologies for absence and substitutions received from Members.

There were no apologies for absence or substitutions.

To confirm and sign as a correct record, the minutes of the last meeting of the Sub-Committee, held on Thursday 7 November 2019.

The minutes of the meeting of the Premises/Personal Licences Sub-Committee held on 7 November 2019 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Councillors are invited to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Personal Interest, and the nature of it, in relation to any item on the agenda.

There were none.

Subject to providing two working days’ notice, a Member of the Committee may ask the Chairman of the Committee a question on any matter in relation to which the Council has powers or duties which affect the Tendring District and which falls within the terms of reference of the Committee.

There were none.

The Sub-Committee will determine an application for the grant of a Premises Licence in respect of the above premises.

The Chairman (Councillor V Guglielmi) welcomed everyone to the meeting, including the applicants, Nicole North and Benjamin Mann of East Coast Distillery Ltd and made introductory remarks.

The Council’s Licensing Manager (Karen Townshend) then gave a verbal summary of the written report and advised that the Sub-Committee had before it, for its consideration as set out in Item A.1 of the Report of the Corporate Director (Operational Services), an application for the grant of a Premises Licence for East Coast Distillery Ltd.

Section 2.2 of the written report set out the proposed opening hours for the premises which were:-

Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays          1000 to 1600

Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays                1000 to 1600

                                                                        1900 to 2300

Sundays                                                          1000 to 1500

Section 3.0 of the written report set out the proposed licensable activities which were:-

Provision of Films

Saturdays                                                        1930 to 2200

Provision of Recorded Music [Background music to be played at events]

Thursdays                                                       1900 to 2230

Fridays and Saturdays                                   1900 to 2300

Sale of Alcohol on and off the premises

Mondays to Wednesdays                               1000 to 1600

Thursdays                                                       1000 to 1600

                                                                        1900 to 2230

Fridays and Saturdays                                   1000 to 1600

                                                                        1900 to 2300

Sundays                                                          1000 to 1500

The applicant had stated the steps that they proposed to take to promote the statutory Licensing Objectives within the Operating Schedule and those steps were detailed in Sections 4.1 to 4.5 inclusive.

Members were further informed that six letters of representation/objection had been received from residents in relation to this application.

No representations have been received from any of the Responsible Authorities.

Members also had before them the Application Form and supporting documentation, a location plan and copies of the representation/objection letters.

The Chairman then invited the applicants to give representations to the Sub-Committee and Mr Mann addressed the Sub-Committee.

Mr Mann explained that he was one of the Directors of East Coast Distillery along with Nicole North.  They currently both worked in public services and running a distillery was an ambition of theirs.

Mr Mann explained that he had been born and bred in Jaywick and still lived in the area at Tendring, whereas Ms North was from another part of the country.

He said that they planned to create a successful, viable distilling business but at the present time they would remain working full time in their current jobs until the business could sustain their salaries.  He said that they wanted the opportunity to be their own bosses.

Mr Mann explained that they had joined up with The Yorkshire Dales Distillery who had been mentoring them and that they were a successful distilling business.

They had now invested a significant amount of money in the premises at Thorpe and had also gained HMRC approval.

He explained that the business was built on 4 strands, the sale of alcohol, on-line, to trade, off sales and direct sales.  Direct sales events such as farmers markets, the Tendring Show etc.  There would also be direct sales by people coming to the distillery so the premises  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.