Agenda and minutes

To approve the minutes of the meeting of the Licensing Sub-Committee A held on 7 December 2023 as published.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the Sub-Committee held on 7 December 2023 be approved and signed as a true and correct record.

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary and other interests from Members in respect of any item to be considered at the meeting.

There were no Declarations of Interest.

To consider any business that the Chairman rules may be dealt with under Section 100B(4) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There were no items of Urgent Business.

Reporting Persons – Emma Bourne / Derrick Laing

The Sub-Committee had before it a report regarding an application by Surrey Police for a Review of the Premises Licence held by Craft Union in relation to The Crown Public House, 33 High Street, Knaphill.  Mr Taylor of Gosschalks LLP attended the meeting to represent the premises along with Mr Chipchase, Licensing Manager for Craft Union (a Stonegate owned company).  Mr Crorie of Counsel attended the meeting to represent Surrey Police along with Ms Sumner and Sergeant Scott.

All parties present had a copy of the Licensing Committee’s agreed procedure to be followed at Licensing Sub-Committee hearings.  The Chairman introduced Members of the Sub-Committee and outlined the order of speaking which would be followed at the hearing.

The Licensing Authority’s representative, Mr Laing, advised the Sub-Committee that on 23 January 2024 a request for a review of the premises licence held by the Crown had been received from Surrey Police, with the grounds for the review being in relation to all four of the licensing objectives.  Following the call for the hearing, the Police had proposed the removal of the Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) alongside a number of conditions for adding to the licence, as set out in Appendix 5 of the report, all of which had been agreed by Craft Union.  However, it was a matter for the Sub-Committee to determine the outcome of the hearing and whether the proposed conditions would address the concerns of the Police.

The Chairman gave Mr Crorie the opportunity to address the Sub-Committee.  Mr Crorie referred to the application for review as set out as Appendix 2 to the report and reiterated that negotiations had taken place with representatives from Surrey Police which had resulted in the aforementioned agreement that satisfied the concerns raised by Surrey Police.  It was added that the Police were not seeking any further conditions to be applied.

Following a question by Mr Taylor it was confirmed that the Police regarded the root cause of issues related to the operation by the existing DPS.  It was noted that the premises had been closed following the call for the hearing and the person would no longer be involved in the future.

In response to a question by Councillor Hussain over the monitoring of the venue by Craft Union, it was stated that the venue was now very much in the spotlight and regular checks would be taking place once it had re-opened under the management of a new DPS.

Following a question by the Chairman over whether the conditions should refer to age limitations, staffing levels and prevention of drug usage, it was stated that the Police were not looking to micromanage the public house and the new DPS would need to take responsibility for operational issues.

The Chairman gave Mr Taylor the opportunity to address the Sub-Committee, who stated that it was accepted by Craft Union and Stonegate that there had been failures in the management of the venue.  There were around 580 Craft Union pubs nationwide, all  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.