Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

There were none.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were none.

To note the attached procedure which will be followed by the Licensing & Regulatory Sub-Committee, at the discretion of the Chairman, when considering the application at agenda item 4.

The licensing hearing procedure note was noted.

The Chair, the other members of the Sub-Committee and the officers present introduced themselves to the meeting.

Those representing the applicant were:

Mr Andrew Cochrane (Solicitor for the applicant)

Mr Greg Sergeant (Business Development Manager for the applicant company)

Mr Gary Payne (Operator)

Mr Steven Cheung was in attendance as an objector. Mr Justin Haves, an Environmental Protection Officer, was in attendance as a representative of the responsible authority.

The applicant confirmed that a partial agreement had been achieved with Environmental Protection. The details of the agreement were provided later in the meeting.

Representations

The Licensing Officer provided an introduction to the application which was to vary the Premises Licence for the Bull’s Head Public House of 55 High Street, Reigate RH2 9AE. It was explained that the area which was the subject of the application was labelled as a beer garden on the current plan as part of the existing Premises Licence. This was shown as completely open and with no fixed structures. Structures had been erected in this area which had been granted planning permission by the Council as the planning authority subject to conditions. The plan submitted as part of the application would replace that on the existing Premises Licence. Attendees were reminded to keep comments and observations to the variation of the licence to the plan, and to the structures and their use.

Mr Andrew Cochrane, made the representation on behalf of the applicant:

·         The outside area had been developed during the pandemic for both health and commercial reasons.  This resulted in both the Planning and Licensing Applications.

·         The objective of the Licensing Application was to enable the sale of alcohol from the new outside area in which Planning Permission had been granted for the structures.

·         It was not the intention to operate this outside area all year round. Sales would be seasonal/in accordance with better weather.

·         As a result of the Planning conditions, the new shelter in the beer garden had been acoustically insulated. It was also specified in these conditions that there could be no live or amplified music by way of speakers in the external area.

·         Two licence conditions proposed by Environmental Protection had been agreed: (1) Staff would monitor customers in the external area to ensure they did not cause a public nuisance. (2) Notices would be prominently displayed in the external area requesting patrons to respect the needs of local residents and to leave quietly.

·         However, it had not been possible to agree with Environmental protection a time for curtailing the use of the outside area. The applicant had agreed to 11pm whereas Environmental Protection wanted this to cease at 10pm. It appeared that this suggestion from Environmental Protection was based on a complaint received two and a half years ago.

·         The comparison was made between the operation of the beer garden with and without Planning and a licence to sell alcohol within the new structure. With no Planning and licence, the beer garden could be open for the sale of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.