Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest made in accordance with the Code of Conduct.

The Panel gave consideration to an application for a Premises Licence made by Mr Francis Walter Prescott under Section 17 of the Licensing Act 2003 in respect of premises known as Hengist Village Restaurant and Bar, 7-9 High Street, Aylesford.  The application related to the Sale of Alcohol, Live Music, Recorded Music and Late Night Refreshment.

The Panel gave careful consideration to the written report of the Director of Central Services and Monitoring Officer, the application set out at Annex 3 to the report and the written representations received during the statutory consultation period (as set out at Annexes 4, 5, 6 and 7 to the report). 

The Panel listened carefully to the representations made by Mr F Prescott, Ms E Shaw on behalf of Kent Police, Mr C Kennard of the Environmental Protection Team and local resident Councillor M Base. 

The Panel was mindful of its obligations under Section 18(3) of the Licensing Act 2003 which stated that, having regard to the relevant representations, the Licensing Authority must take such of the steps set out in Section 18(4) (if any) as it considers appropriate for the promotion of the licensing objectives.  In addition the Panel had particular regard to the provisions of Chapter 9 of the amended guidance issued under Section 182 of the 2003 Act and to the Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy.

The Panel was satisfied that the hours of operation for sale of alcohol and live and recorded music as agreed between the applicant and Kent Police was acceptable.  However, the Panel was not satisfied that the Licensing objective of preventing public nuisance would be met were any late night refreshment to be permitted because the provision of this service after 2300 hours would extend the length of time customers would remain on the premises and consequently lead to an increase in noise later into the night.  The Panel determined that late night refreshment should be excluded from the licence.

The Panel was satisfied that the licensing objectives could properly be furthered with the imposition of mandatory conditions, conditions consistent with the operating schedule, those conditions agreed by the applicant with the Responsible Authorities (Kent Police, Kent Trading Standards and Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council Environmental Protection) and the following additional conditions:-

-           A condition requiring a log to be kept of all training undertaken by staff, to be made available for inspection by the licensing authority or other responsible authority at all reasonable times;

-           An amendment to the agreed condition requiring staff to be trained, to require such training to be carried out only with an accredited body;

-           A requirement that the complaints log would be made available for inspection to the licensing authority or other responsible authority at all reasonable times. 

The Panel also considered that the following additional conditions were required to further the licensing objective of the prevention of public nuisance:-

-        A condition ensuring an appropriate facility for communication between local residents directly to the Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS)  ...  view the full minutes text for item LA 17/66

The Chairman to move that the press and public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting during consideration of any items the publication of which would disclose exempt information

There were no items considered in private.