The Democratic Services Officer opened the meeting and asked for nominations for Chair.

Councillor Nick Draper proposed that Councillor Oonagh Moulton be appointed as Chair for the meeting and this was seconded by Councillor Pauline Cowper.

RESOLVED:  That Councillor Moulton be appointed Chair of the meeting.

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chair opened the meeting and all present introduced themselves. The Chair advised that the meeting would follow the procedure as set out in the agenda pack which had been sent to all parties.

Mr Panchal, the applicant’s representative, stated that:

·         The Applicant has experience in the retail trade industry having worked in a restaurant for 5 years, which he had managed for 3 years.

·         The Applicant understood the concerns of the Police and had provided a list of proposed conditions within the application.

·         The Applicant was willing to reduce the hours sought in the application by amending the terminal hour to 8.00pm (from 11.00pm) and the start time to 10am (from 08.00am). The applicant was willing to insert further more focused street drinking conditions including ’a minimum purchase would be 4 cans of beer or cider be sold per customer’ (to assist with the problem of street drinkers buying single cans), ‘no 5cl/10cl miniatures shall be sold from the premises’, ‘no multipacks shall be sold in the premises’ and that there would be ‘no sale of beer or ciders which were above 6% ABV’.

·         The Applicant proposed a number of conditions to manage the off-licence operation in the operating schedule to the application.  These included proposed conditions such as having a  staff training manual at the premises, having refusals register, having an incident book, having appropriate signage and adopting the  Challenge 25 scheme ,having a notice requesting customers leave the premises quietly, and having CCTV throughout the premises.

·         The Applicant believed that with the additional conditions and amendments proposed they would be robustly promoting the Licensing Objectives.

The Legal Advisor to the Licensing Sub-Committee invited the applicant’s representative to address the cumulative impact policy, as it had not been addressed, which resulted in the above street drinking conditions being proposed.

Following questions from the Metropolitan Police and the Licensing Sub-Committee, the applicant’s representative responded that:

1)   Refusal of the sale of alcohol to customers who are drunk would be included within staff training and the premises would comply with the law in that respect. PC Stevens was surprised that it was mentioned and included as it was a criminal offence in its own right to sell alcohol to someone who is drunk not something that you condition.

2)  The premises has been trading for 34 years as a stationers and newsagents, having previously been a WH Smith, although it had now also added a counter providing mobile phone accessories and servicing.

3)  The application for a Premises Licence for the off-sale of alcohol would allow the premises to continue trading selling alcohol with its usual newspapers. It was unclear whether other convenience good would be provided with the sales of alcohol. The Applicant’s representative was clear that the application would increase footfall to the store.

PC Russ Stevens, Police Licensing Officer stated that:

·         The Premises is located within the Mitcham Cumulative Impact Zone and therefore subject to the Cumulative Impact Policy (CIP) within the Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.