Meeting documents

Ex-officio non-voting members

-      Cllr Christie (Deputy Mayor)

+ Cllr Miss Gibson (Leader of the Conservative Group)

+ Cllr Rowlands (Leader of the Labour Group)    

-     Cllr Whitcroft (Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group)

+ Present

- Apologies for absence presented

In attendance

Councillors, Bush, King and Stevenson

Objectors

Environmental Health Division

Ken Stewart          Chief Environmental Health Officer

Tim Pashen          Principal Environmental Health Officer

Julia Ball          Environmental Health Officer

Patricia Lovelady     Solicitor (Litigation)

Joe Bananas

Lisa Sharkey          Poppleston Allen, Licensing Solicitors

Nick Mould          Area Manager, Luminar Leisure Ltd

Surrey Police

Sergeant R A Payne

RESOLVED, That Councillor Mrs Pearce be elected Chairman of the Sub-Committee for the municipal year 2000/2001.

The minutes of the meeting held on 9th December 1999 were confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

PART A

(for decision)

No items

PART B

(for information)

An application to vary the condition attached to the Public Music and Dancing Licence issued in respect of the Slurping Toad Wine and Ale House in relation to opening hours was submitted to the Sub-Committee for consideration together with copies of letters of objection.

The variation requested had originally been to allow the premises to remain open for public entertainment until 2am instead of 11pm each night but during the course of the proceedings the applicant amended this request so that a closing time of 1.00 am should be substituted for 11pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights the other days remaining at 11pm.  Objections to the original proposals had been received from the Council’s Chief Environmental Health Officer, the police, Joe Bananas Nightclub and the proprietors of Camberley Dining, The Crockery and Kitchen Kapers.  These objections were not withdrawn as a result of the amendment to the application.

The Chief Environmental Health Officer, the police and Joe Bananas Nightclub were represented at the meeting.  Details of the location of the Slurping Toad Wine and Ale House and its layout and construction were presented to the Sub-Committee by the Chief Environmental Health Officer together with Council guidelines giving details of the requirements which would normally be imposed in respect of various types of premises licensed for public entertainment including closing hours for such premises.  Under the terms of the guidelines public houses licensed to provide music and dancing on a regular basis were normally required to close at midnight and nightclubs were required to closed at 2.00 am.

The changes proposed by the applicant indicated that the category of the Slurping Toad Wine and Ale House would change, possibly to that of a nightclub.

The basis of the Chief Environmental Health Officer’s objection was that the construction of the premises was inadequate for the intended late night use and that use of the building for public entertainment would cause noise disturbance and exacerbate crime and disorder problems in the High Street.  The Chief Environmental Health Officer also expressed concern that on two out of three occasions, when unscheduled checks had been carried out at the premises, licence conditions had been infringed as the door keepers employed by the management had not been registered by the Council.  The Chief Environmental Health Officer was therefore not satisfied that the manager had sufficient experience to control premises remaining open late at night.

Evidence was produced by the Chief Environmental Health Officer to support his objections in relation to the unsuitability of the construction of the building for late night use which it was maintained would not attenuate noise emanating from the premises to an acceptable level.  The crime and disorder problems associated with the use of the building were supported by the police who gave details of the type of problems which occurred in Camberley town centre.

Popplestone Allen, acting on behalf of Joe Bananas Nightclub, supported the objection submitted by the Chief Environmental Health Officer in relation to the construction of the building and emphasised that any variation to the entertainment licence to allow public entertainment to continue into the early hours of the morning should be equivalent to those imposed in respect of Joe Bananas Nightclub.

The proprietors of Camberley Dining, The Crockery and Kitchen Kapers were not represented at the meeting.

Eversheds acting on behalf of the Slurping Toad Wine and Ale House explained the reasons for the application which arose from proposals by the licence holders to provide wide ranging services at the premises.  The unique atmosphere in the premises was welcomed by the clientele and the type of service provided varied throughout the day ranging from providing meals at lunch time, light refreshments in the afternoon and musical entertainment in the evening.  The licence holders felt that the service they would provide would not be met by other establishments in the town centre and that their customers would appreciate the type of entertainment and atmosphere which they would provide.

The licence holders were anxious to comply with any requirements that the Council would impose if granting a variation and gave details of constructional changes which were envisaged.  These included providing a lobby in the entrance to the premises, rest room and interview room facilities, a quiet area and an extension of the dance floor to allow more people to dance.  The licence holders would also be prepared to undertake constructional works to improve sound attenuation and to control customers entering and leaving the premises.

Eversheds pointed out that the manager of the premises was very experienced in nightclub management and that unlicensed doorkeepers had been employed at the premises due to a misunderstanding about the registration arrangements.  The licence holders had not intended to infringe this condition and action had been taken to ensure that this problem would not recur.

The licence holders, having been made aware of the disorder problems and fouling affecting premises in the High Street had formulated proposals to alleviate this problem which would involve other late night establishments in the High Street.  This involved undertaking the voluntary cleaning of the frontages of premises in the vicinity of each of the late night premises when those premises closed.  The licence holders were prepared to lead this initiative and would undertake such cleaning in respect of properties between St Georges Walk and Knoll Walk.

The licence holders confirmed that they were willing to comply with any conditions which might be imposed to enable the premises to remain open until 1.00 am.

After a short adjournment during which Members retired to consider the application to vary the public entertainment licence for the Slurping Toad Wine and Ale House, Camberley, the Chairman read out the decision of the Sub-Committee as set out in the resolution.  In reaching its decision the Sub-Committee had regard to the evidence given on behalf of the licence holders and particularly commended the suggestion of the applicants to undertake voluntary cleaning of the frontages of three or four premises on either side of the licensed premises.  Although this proposal had not been made a specific condition to the variation of the licence, a letter would be sent to the proprietors of the premises concerned indicating that the arrangement would be introduced.

RESOLVED, That the public entertainment licence for the Slurping Toad Wine and Ale House be varied to allow the premises to remain open for public entertainment until midnight on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings subject to the applicant accepting the conditions recommended by the Chief Environmental Health Officer as set out below:

CHAIRMAN