Agenda and minutes

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

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

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

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

There was 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 13 January 2020.

The minutes of the meeting of the Premises/Personal Licences Sub-Committee held on 13 January 2020 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.

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 applicant, Mr Tony Sugden of Different (Essex) 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 Ashlyns House, 83 Fourth Avenue, Frinton-on-Sea, Essex.

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

Mondays to Sundays                                      1100 to 2300

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

Provision of Recorded Music

Mondays to Sundays                                      1100 to 2300

Sale of Alcohol on the Premises

Mondays to Sundays                                      1100 to 2300

The applicant had stated that 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 one letter of representation/objection had been received from a resident in relation to this application.

No representations have been received from any other Responsible Authorities.

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

The Chairman then invited the applicant to give representations to the Sub-Committee and Mr Sugden addressed the Committee.

Mr Sugden explained that he had applied for the licence for seven days a week until 11.00 p.m. as the previous licence was held on that basis.  He was not aware until just before he was due to take over the Lease in October 2019 after speaking to the Licensing Team that the Licence had been surrendered in August 2019.  He was told by the Licensing Team that he could not therefore apply for a variation of that Licence.

He also told the Sub-Committee that the previous owners had also stripped the premises of fixtures and fittings and that he was currently undertaking a full refurbishment.  He said that he had to apply for these hours to make the business viable.  He said that he had 24-26 covers inside, with a further 20 covers on the outside patio area.

He said it would be a small family restaurant.  He had lived in Frinton-on-Sea for 35 years and his family were in the catering business, having previously run a restaurant in the area with his wife’s parents and grandparents.

Mr Sugden was asked by Members whether there was enough room in the outside area for 20 and he explained that it was a small patio area with a small grassed edge and then the pavement and he wished to use this patio area during the Summer months as this would help to make the business more viable.

The issue of parking was raised and discussed.

Mr Sugden was asked about the letter of objection from Mr Kirby in relation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.