Agenda and minutes

To appoint a Chair for the purposes of this meeting.

RESOLVED:  That Councillor Matthew Goodwin-Freeman be appointed Chair of the Licensing Panel Hearing.

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary or non pecuniary interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from all Members present.

RESOLVED:  To note that there were no declarations of interest made by Members.

[Note:  Licensing Panel minutes are:-

(1)          approved following each meeting by the Members serving on that particular occasion and signed as a correct record by the Chair for that meeting;

(2)          not submitted to the next panel meeting for approval.

Reasons:  The Licensing Panel is constituted from a pooled membership. Consequently, a subsequent Panel meeting is likely to comprise a different Chair and Members who took no part in the previous meeting’s proceedings.  The process referred to at (1) above provides appropriate approval scrutiny].

(See Note at conclusion of these minutes).

Procedure to be followed at an oral hearing.

The Chair asked the Panel Members, officer/s, Responsible Authority/ies and other attendees at the meeting to introduce themselves and then outlined the procedure for the conduct of an oral hearing, which was set out in the agenda.

Report of Dipti Patel, Corporate Director, Place

In attendance:

1)        This was a hearing to determine application for a review a premises licence for the Premises known as the Sean Ög, 108 High Street, Wealdstone, Harrow HA3 7AH (the “Premises”) (previously known as TJ’s Sports Bar) brought by the Police on the basis of the prevention of crime and disorder.  

2)        TheSub-Committeehearingwasheld in person and all Members of theSub-Committee            were presentthroughout and wereable tosee and hearall representationsmade.

3)        The Sub-Committee carefully consideredall therelevant informationincluding:

·       All written and oralrepresentations made by all theparties.

·       The Licensing Act 2003 and the steps that are appropriate to promote the licensing                    objectives.

·       The Guidanceissued undersection 182of theLicensing Act2003.

·       Harrow Council’sLicensing Policy.

·       The Human Rights Act1998.

4)        The Police’s application referred to an incident on Saturday 11 March 2023 in which a serious incident of violence took place inside the Premises after they should have been closed for licensable activities but were instead continuing to operate and serve alcohol.  The Police’s application also referred to other incidents of alleged non-compliance of licensing conditions at the Premises going back to 13 August 2018.  A copy of the Police’s application was shown in full at Appendix 1 to the Agenda.

5)        Under the existing premises licence the sale of alcohol for consumption on the Premises was authorised between Monday to Friday between 11:00am to midnight, and on Saturday between 11:00am to 01:00 am the following morning.  The closing times during this same period was 00:30am Monday to Friday and 01:30 on Saturday.

6)        According to the Police’s application, on the morning of Saturday 11 March 2023, a fight broke out between two groups of people, each group reportedly consisting of at least 6 people, resulting in a  violent incident of grievous bodily harm (“GBH”).  The Police’s enquiries noted the incident took place between 01:47am and 01:52am, when the Premises should have been closed.  The Police’s enquiries show the Premises was still open and serving alcohol after the end of licensing hours.

7)        As for the GBH, the Sub-Committee the Police’s representation states the CCTV showed the groups fighting, a male forced to the floor and kicked, a chair used to hit another male and a further man holding a sharp object and using it to cause puncture wounds to two men and slashing another person’s hands as they tried to defend themselves. Pool cues were also being used to assault others and chairs were being thrown around.

8)        The Police also stated that one of the victims of the assault informed them that they arrived at the Premises  ...  view the full minutes text for item 122.