Cllr Philip Jones was appointed chair.

There were no declarations of pecuniary interest.

Chris Lloyd, on behalf of the applicant, introduced their application.

The owner had run a restaurant in Morden for two years with no complaints received.  This level of management would be carried over to the new restaurant in Wimbledon.  The panel were shown the menu of drinks, and given information about signage.  The business was an independent one, and the manager would always intervene if there were any problem with noise. 

Cllr Sargeant asked the applicant to demonstrate that the new premises would not have a negative influence on the cumulative impact zone.

Mr Lloyd responded by confirming that alcohol would only be served with meals and consumed on the premises.  There would be an extremely low chance of customers over indulging as the manager would intervene to prevent problems.

Stephen Beedell, Licensing Officer, pointed out that no responsible authority was in attendance at the hearing.

In response to questions from panel members,  about who would be the premises supervisor, and whether the premises had been licensed previously, Mr Lloyd explained that the supervision would be provided by Mr Sheikh, his partner and Maitre’d, and that he believed the premises had been licensed previously, but that the license had not been utilised.

The Panel went into closed session at 12.20pm and reconvened at 12.40pm

Guy Bishop had advised the panel on Thwaites case, on the assessment of evidence, and  the Somerfield case on the applicability of conditions where other legislation governed such matters.

The Panel gave their decision as follows:

We have considered that the applicant has demonstrated that the proposed premises will not add to cumulative impact in this CIP area.  In view of the nature of the proposed operation and the enforceable conditions offered by the applicant, we therefore grant the application as sought in respect of hours and licensable activities subject to the following conditions extracted from the operating schedule in the application (taken from the offered conditions page 22 – 24 in the agenda pack):

1.      Alcohol sales will be ancillary to the service of food and will be restricted to wines and/or beers only.  There will be no sale of alcohol without the purchase of a substantial meal and no vertical drinking on the premises. 

2.      A CCTV camera system shall be installed and maintained as per the minimum requirements of a Metropolitan Police Crime Prevention Officer.  All entry and exit points will be covered enabling identification of persons entering in any light condition.

3.      The licences shall ensure that the CCTV is maintained in working order to the satisfaction of the Police and Local Authority and be in operation when the premises is open to the public.  CCTV recordings shall be retained for a minimum period of 31 days with date and time stamping.  Records will be made immediately available on request by the Police or an authorised council officer.

4.      A member of staff conversant with operation of the CCTV system will be on the premises at all times during the operating  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Sabrina Cader presented the case for the applicant, highlighting that the current owners had no link to the previous owners, having taken over the premises on 1^st July 2014.  Ms Cader explained that the premises would be a private members’ club, where 48 hours would have to elapse between people applying and then being granted membership status.  The premises had a maximum capacity of between 45 and 50 people.  The restaurant could seat up to 24.  There are 4 function rooms at the rear, each having capacity for 7 or 8 people.  There was no bar, and it was again emphasised that this was a different mode of operation to the previous business on the premises, being a private members club as opposed to a public restaurant operation.  Ms Cader said that noise testing had been done for the sound emitted from the karaoke, with no breakout of noise, and that as there were several fire doors between the room where this would take place and the exterior of the building, that it was not going to cause nuisance.  The owner appreciated the local residents’ concerns, and would have measures to minimise disruption, including a member of staff on the door to ensure noise from people departing the club was reduced, as well as CCTV cameras on the property, including one to cover the exit, which could be monitored by staff inside the building.   Members would be disbarred if there were problems.  There would be no children on site after 10pm.  The proprietor would listen to neighbours’ concerns and work to address these.

Cllr Jeanes expressed concern about noise from minicabs coming to collect guests, and Cllr Gilli Lewis-Lavender expressed concern about the proposed closing time, the late night refreshments, possible future nuisance to any residential development to the back of the property and the possibility of the area becoming similar to Wimbledon Town Centre in terms of late night noise.

In response to these concerns, Ms Cader reiterated that there would be a member of staff at the exit to advise guests to leave quietly, and that the proprietor try to address  the  issues raised by residents.

Cllr Sargeant queried the number of guest members could have accompanying them, (the application proposed ten guests could accompany a member to the premises), the cost of membership, sound proofing with regard to noise to the back of the property, the type of drinks served, whether there was a drinking up time, whether the noise of minicabs could be kept away from the premises, and whether clients for the previous business on site would return to use the new club.

Ms Cader responded that the club had a maximum capacity, so the number of accompanying guests would not increase the overall number of people able to use the club at any one time, that there was an annual membership fee, that sound to the rear of the property hadn’t been checked due to the building currently there, that the drinks served  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.