Agenda and draft minutes

To appoint a Chair for the duration of the meeting.

It was MOVED by Councillor Denton and SECONDED by Councillor Patel and RESOLVED, to:

Appoint Councillor Patsy Cummings as Chair for the meeting.

Members are invited to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) and other registrable and non-registrable interests they may have in relation to any item(s) of business on today’s agenda.

There were none.

To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

There were no items of urgent business.

The Sub-Committee is asked to consider the application for a review of the premises licence at Efie Ne Fie, 50 High Street, Thornton Heath, CR7 8LF and whether to take such of the following steps as it considers necessary for the promotion of the licensing objectives:

-       To modify the conditions of the licence

-       To exclude a licensable activity from the scope of the licence

-       To remove the designated premises supervisor

-       To suspend the licence for a period not exceeding 3 months

-       To revoke the licence

For this purpose, the conditions of the licence are modified if any of them is altered or omitted or any new condition is added.

The Chair outlined the procedures for the Licensing Hearing in line with the Licensing Act 2003 and the Council’s protocol.

Kay Jones, Licensing Compliance Officer; Peter Wright and Zoe Garrod, Metropolitan Police; Claire Nevin, Legal representative to the Metropolitan Police; Roberta Asafu-Adjaye the Premises Licence holder and Aaron Asafu, the Designated Premises Supervisor were all present.

The Licensing Officer introduced the report to the Sub-Committee. It was noted that premises licence holders were required to promote the four licensing objectives; the prevention of crime and disorder, the prevention of public nuisance, public safety and the prevention of children from harm. Responsible authorities and other persons were able to apply for a review of a premises licence if they believed these objectives were being compromised. Once a formal application for review was made, the Licensing Sub-Committee was tasked to consider this at a review hearing and had the following options:

-       To modify the premises licence

-       To exclude the licensable activity from the scope of the licence

-       To remove the Designated Premises Supervisor

-       To suspend the license for a period not exceeding 3 months

-       To revoke the licence

-       To take no action

The Licensing Officer explained the nature of the application for consideration was a review of the premises licence at Efie Ne Fie, 50 Highstreet, Thorton Heath, CR7 8LF. The application for the review had been made by the Metropolitan Police. The premises licence had been granted on 31 March 2016 for the sale by retail of alcohol, Monday to Sunday 10.00am – 10.30pm.

Other parties were given the opportunity to speak. Kay Jones, Licensing Compliance Officer advised they had visited the premises several times in conjunction with the Police since 2020 and on each occasion witnessed breaches of one or more of the premises licence conditions. On the most recent visit changes to the layout of the premises to include an additional bar had been made. The request for the submission of plans for this variation had not been received to date. The Licensing Compliance Officer stated their support for the review application, as the conditions of the premises licence were not being met.

The applicant was given the opportunity to speak. Claire Nevin representing the Metropolitan Police advised the Sub-Committee Efe Ne Fie was located on the busy Thornton Heath Highstreet nearby to Crystal Palace Football Club and saw increased footfall on match days. The Highstreet was part one of the Council’s cumulative impact areas due to antisocial behaviour and alcohol related crime and hospital admissions.

The Premises Licence included five conditions including the requirement for CCTV, a refusals register, an incidents log book, adherence to Challenge 25 and for staff to receive training on this policy. The prevention of Crime and Disorder objective and the importance the Licensing statutory guidance placed on CCTV were highlighted. 

The Police were seeking revocation of the premises licence due to clear and consistent breaches of the conditions. The premises licence holder had been given many opportunities  ...  view the full minutes text for item 76/22

The following motion is to be moved and seconded where it is proposed to exclude the press and public from the remainder of a meeting:

“That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within those paragraphs indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.”

This was not required.