Agenda item

The Building Control Manager provided an update on the trial period which the Committee, at its meeting on 13th April 2022, had agreed to extend for a further six months, with authority delegated to the Director of Planning and Building Control to deal with all Article 44A extension applications both for City centre and non-city centre locations in the manner which had been previously agreed by the Committee.  He provided a summary position whereby following the April Committee Meeting the Committee agreed to offer no objection to Article 44A extension applications for Biddy Duffy’s and Horatio Todd’s up to 19th October 2022 and that each applicant be requested:

1. to agree to withdraw all Article 44A extension applications beyond 19th October, to allow officers to provide at the Committee meeting in October an update on any issues which had arisen from the operation of the premises during the 9-month trial period, given that both premises were located in close proximity to residential accommodation; and

2. to agree not to provide entertainment after 2.00 a.m., unless an Entertainments Licence was in place which expressly permitted entertainment to take place beyond that time.

To date, Biddy Duffy’s had only once availed of the additional hours of operation permitted by their Article 44A applications whilst Horatio Todd’s had not used any of their additional hours applications. 

The licensee of Biddy Duffy’s had advised that they were not using their additional hours because customers were no longer interested in late nights, post-covid, whilst the licensee for Horatio Todd’s would not be applying for any further additional hours claiming that they cost too much in legal fees and provide no return.

Given that the premises were close to residential properties, the intention of the extended trial period was to consider whether the premises operating to the later hours, or any period immediately following their termination, led to undue inconvenience to persons residing in the vicinity.

The Building Control Manager advised that despite a prolonged trial period of over 9 months, there was still no evidence to provide the Committee in relation to the impact, if any, of these bars selling alcohol to 2.00 am on their local neighbourhood. He added that Coronavirus had had a significant impact on the licensed trade and it would seem that the introduction of new legislation to permit longer opening hours had not had the widespread uptake that might have been expected.  When reporting to the Committee in April, it was anticipated that trade in the industry and tourism generally would pick up, and that there would be greater interest from pubs and hotels in availing of the opportunity to serve alcohol until 2.00 am.  No doubt the more recent pressures that businesses were enduring due to the cost of living and energy crisis had had a further impact on recovery and, in turn, their desire to avail of late licences.

After consideration the Committee agreed to delegate authority to the Director of Planning and Building Control to deal with all such applications in the manner previously agreed on the proviso that such applications did not relate to premises where the provision of entertainment had been subject to significant objections or prosecutions in the past and that the situation would be kept under review and any emerging problems that may arise be reported to the Committee.