Agenda item

            The Building Control Manager submitted for the Committee’s consideration a report which provided details of applications for the renewal of a Seven-day Annual Indoor Entertainments Licence and for the grant of a Seven-day Annual Outdoor Entertainments Licence in respect of the Box Nightclub, based upon the Council’s standard conditions to provide music, singing, dancing or any other entertainment of a like kind.

            He reported that the venue operated currently as a nightclub and that it was licensed to provide indoor entertainment, in the form of a DJ, in the ground floor bar, the first floor bar and the first floor VIP bar from Monday to Saturday till 3.00 a.m. and on a Sunday till 2.00 a.m. Special conditions were attached to the licence around the control of occupancy figures and the holding of review meetings. The applicant was now seeking to provide entertainment within an outdoor smoking area, which was located to the front of the SSE Arena and which was covered by a Liquor Licence. The days and hours during which entertainment would be provided in that area would be the same as those on the Indoor Entertainments Licence and there would be no increase in the nightclub’s current maximum occupancy figure of 1730 patrons.

            He pointed out that no written representations had been received in relation to the application and that the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service had offered no objection. In such instances, it was normal practice for Entertainments Licences to be issued under the Council’s Scheme of Delegation. However, since the applicant had, on 17th November, 2015, been convicted at the Belfast Magistrates Court of providing entertainment in the aforementioned smoking area without a valid Entertainments Licence, both applications had, as required under the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Northern Ireland) Order 1985, been placed before the Committee for consideration. The applicant had been fined £200 and been required to pay costs of £69 as a result of the offence.

            The Building Control Manager informed the Members that, since the offence had been detected, officers had met with the applicant and had visited the venue and were satisfied that it was now being managed in accordance with the Entertainments Licensing legislation. In addition, the Council’s Environmental Protection Unit had, during the past year, received no complaints regarding noise nuisance and it was assessing currently an acoustic report identifying measures to be put in place to minimise disturbance to neighbouring properties from noise breakout or patron dispersal. He stressed that, should the Committee be minded to grant the Outdoor Entertainments Licence, it would not be issued until such time as all technical matters had been resolved and the proposed noise levels had been verified and agreed.

            The Committee agreed, in its capacity as Licensing Authority, to renew a Seven-day Annual Indoor Entertainments Licence and to grant a Seven-day Annual Outdoor Entertainments Licence in respect of Box Nightclub, Units 1 and 8 Queen’s Quay, with entertainment being permitted in the outdoor smoking area from Monday to Saturday till 3.00 a.m. and till 2.00 a.m. on a Sunday, subject to all technical requirements being met to the satisfaction of Council officers.