Agenda item

            The Building Control Manager reminded the Committee that, at its meeting on 18th January, it had considered a report in relation to current entertainments licensing enforcement procedures and the determination of applications, where an applicant had been convicted of an offence under the Local Government Miscellaneous Provisions (Northern Ireland) Order 1985. The Committee had agreed, as an additional deterrent,  that, in future, as soon as a licence holder had been convicted of an offence, they would be invited to appear before the Committee to outline the reasons why their licence should not be revoked, rather than waiting until it was due for renewal, as had been the case previously.

            With that in mind, he drew the Committee’s attention to an inspection which had been undertaken in May, 2016 of the above-mentioned premises whilst entertainment had been taking place, which had revealed that the required minimum width of a rear escape route was not being maintained and that the appropriate pre-entertainment checks had not been carried out. As a result, Quay Street Merchants Limited, the licence holder, had on 21st February, been convicted of the offences and been fined £500 and ordered to pay £69 in costs.

            He explained that, in addition to being requested to consider the potential revocation of the premises’ Entertainments Licence, the Committee was being requested to consider also an application for the renewal of the licence. He reported that no written representations had been received in relation to that application and that neither the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service nor the Police Service of Northern Ireland had offered objections. Since the aforementioned offences had been detected, officers had met with the management of the premises and were satisfied that appropriate measures had been put in place to ensure the safe evacuation of patrons in the event of an emergency. Four subsequent inspections had revealed no further safety issues and that management procedures were being implemented effectively. He pointed out that a representative of the licensee was in attendance and that, once the Committee had heard his submission, it was required, in the first instance, to decide if it wished to revoke the venue’s Entertainments Licence. Should it decide not to adopt that course of action, it was then required to consider the application for the renewal of the licence.

            The Chairperson then welcomed to the meeting Mr. M. McPherson, the manager of Bootleggers.   

            Mr. McPherson informed the Members that, as the manager of the premises, he accepted full responsibility for the offences which had been detected in May, 2016. He explained that, immediately afterwards, measures had been put in place to prevent a recurrence, which had included marking the rear escape route clearly with paint, moving refuse bins away from that area to provide additional space and advising staff of the need to keep escape routes clear at all times. In addition, two pre-entertainment checks were now carried out on those days when entertainment was due to take place.

            The Chairperson thanked Mr. M. McPherson for attending the meeting.

            After discussion, the Committee agreed, in its capacity as Licensing Authority, not to revoke the Entertainments Licence for Bootleggers, 46 Church Lane and, accordingly, approved the application for the renewal of the licence.