Agenda and minutes

The Chair will open the meeting and welcome all present.

The Chair opened the Hearing and introduced the Members of the Sub-Committee and Officers present.  At the request of the Chair all other parties present gave a brief introduction.

To receive apologies for absence and the details of any Councillor nominated to attend the meeting in place of a Member listed.

There were no apologies for absence.

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests.

There were no declarations of interest.

To consider an application for a Premises Licence made by Traders Arms Limited in respect of Traders Arms, 28 Bromsgrove Road, Redditch, B97 4RJ.

(Report attached)

The Sub-Committee was asked to consider an application for a new premises licence made by Traders Arms Limited in respect of Traders Arms, 38 Bromsgrove Road, Redditch, B97 4RJ.  The application having been submitted by Mr Umar Riaz Khan, in order to permit licensable activities to take place as follows:-

·         Indoor Sporting events, Live Music, Recorded Music, Sale of Alcohol Indoors, Monday to Sunday 10:00 hours to 00:00 hours.

·         Late Night Refreshments (indoors), Monday to Sunday 23:00 hours to 00:00 hours.

The application was subject to a Hearing in light of a representation received from Inspector Darren Webster, Safer Neighbourhood Inspector, West Mercia Police and three relevant representations received from local residents.  The representations related primarily to:-

·         Late night drinking after licensing hours

·         Public nuisance

·         An increase in noise pollution in the area

·         Crime and Disorder

·         The protection of children from harm

·         The proliferation of drugs in the area

The Technical Officer (Licensing), Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS) introduced the report and, in doing so, informed the Sub-Committee that, as detailed in the report, representations had been received from West Mercia Police and local residents.

At the invitation of the Chair, Mr Umar Khan the applicant spoke in support of his application and informed the Sub-Committee that he had been operating the premises since 1st April 2015.  Mr Khan introduced Mr Adam Whitby, Bar Manager at The Traders Arms.  Mr Khan offered his apologies to residents for the issues they had experienced and stated that due to commitments with a second job he was only present at the premises Sunday through to Wednesday.  He was not personally aware of any nuisance or improper behaviour at the premises.  He informed the Sub-Committee that the majority of customers were young, mostly around 22 years of age, and that he had tried to keep the noise down.  The club had been used for specific functions, namely birthday and family functions.

Mr Khan introduced Mr Whitby, who informed the Sub-Committee that he currently worked at the premises and had also worked at the premises when it was the Trades and Labour Club; so had worked at the premises for a total of nine years.  He acknowledged that over the last few months behaviour at the premises had got out of hand, with late night music and noise from people leaving the premises.  He had tried to control the issues in respect of loud music and people leaving the premises in a rowdy manner and wanted to offer his sincere apologies to the residents for not managing this more effectively.

Mr Khan highlighted to the Sub-Committee that the premises was not operated as a night club, as stated in one of the representations, and the premises closed at 11.00 p.m. Mr Khan apologised for a second time to residents and stated that people should not be leaving the premises late at night and asked the Sub-Committee to take into account that should the licence be granted; he would ensure that there were no further future issues  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.