Agenda item

The Logie Baird, 8 James Street, Helensburgh, G84 8AS

 

Copy letter dated 14^th May 2019 from Brunton Millar, Solicitors, 22 Herbert Street, Glasgow on behalf of Kemble Estates Ltd.

 

Section 40 provides that, where a licence has been varied or suspended , the Licensing Board may revoke the variation or suspension if it is satisfied that such a course is justified by reason of a change of circumstances.

 

A copy of the Statement of Reasons together with letter from Police Scotland dated 7^th February, list of incidents and the LSO’s Report on the Review is attached

The Logie Baird, 8 James Street, Helensburgh, G84 8AS

 

Archie McIver, Solicitor, Glasgow appeared on behalf of the applicant. Cara Nikolic and Milan Nikolic, the premises manager, were also present.

        

        The Chair explained the procedure.

 

        Mr McIver referred to Section 40 of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005

        which was an uncommon request, that a Licensing Board may, if

        satisfied, remove the variation if it was justified there was a change in

        circumstances, to restrict the terminal hour to 1.00am with a curfew of    

        11.00pm. Mr McIver said that attendances had fallen and on a Friday   

        evening there were no patrons within the premises at all with Saturday

        evenings following suit, as a result the business was no longer

        sustainable. He explained that in April, when the decision to restrict the

        opening hours was made, the premises had been operating satisfactorily

        from the festive period up until that time, with one incident reported in

        May which involved a fight between 2 males. They were both charged

        and were added to the Pub Watch list barring them from certain

        premises for 2 years. Mr McIver advised that his clients had improved

        staff training; employed more male and female stewards and updated

        their CCTV. There were a number of matters still to be put in place such

        as scan net, which checks all ID and detects any false ID and then this

        information is added into the system. He said that this would be

        expensive to install therefore it would only be worth it if patrons used the

        premises.

       

        Mr McIver said that a membership scheme would be set up whereby

        members only would be permitted after 10.00pm and if there were

        any incidents then Police Scotland would have access to information

        relating to those individuals. He emphasised that his clients needed to   

        have the opportunity to run a honest establishment and the early

        closure was having a ripple effect on other premises which had been

        recently having issues over unruly behaviour. Mr McIver said that

        if the Board was not in a position to vary the terminal hour to 2.00am,

        could they remove the curfew as the premises were now closed as the

        business was no longer viable. He referred to the letter from the

        landlords, which he was aware of but did not have any comments to

        make regarding this. He stressed that his clients had learnt from their

        mistakes.

       

        Sergeant Mairi Capaldi, Police Scotland advised that the issue was the

        levels of intoxication. Mr McIver said that this was addressed previously

        and was not aware of any other incidents apart from the one in May. He

        confirmed that if a patron was intoxicated then they would not be

        permitted onto the premises again.

       

        Milan Nikolic explained that the incident involved 2 patrons who became

        aggressive but they were not drunk and were immediately removed from

        the premises.

      

 

        Sergeant Capaldi referred to the changes which would be put in place

        but thought that these would not change anything.

       

        Raymond Park, Licensing Standards Officer suggested that a condition

        could be added regarding the implemented changes.

 

        Richard Trail referred to the list of incidents and said that the majority of

        the narrative stated patrons were intoxicated. Mr McIver accepted this

        but these type of incidents had not happened since the festive period.

       

        The Chair referred to the last recorded incident which took place on 20^th

        January 2019. Mr McIver advised there were 2 incidents but it was

        nearly the end of June and nothing further, apart from May, had

        occurred. Mr Nikolic advised that the Procurator Fiscal decided not to

        proceed with one of the incidents.

 

        Rory Colville reverted back to the implemented changes and asked how

        this would work for Navy Personnel as they changed constantly

        and how would the CCTV system, which was not always available, be

        managed.

 

        Cara Nikolic said that it was the most comprehensive CCTV in the area

        and Police Scotland had requested, in the past, to view it in relation to

        other matters. She stated that the CCTV was out of order for one night

        but there had been no further issues with it. Ms Nikolic said that a

        number of staff members had access to the CCTV before but now this

        number had been limited. Mr McIver referred to Navy Personnel and

        stated that they should have their own ID cards and if they did not

        have them or were unwilling to show them, they would not be allowed

        entry.

 

        Lorna Douglas thought that the scan net would be more a security

        measure rather than a management one and had expressed her

        concerns regarding this. She asked if any recent incidents had taken

        place and said it was difficult to determine whether there had been any

        improvement as the premises had been closed. Sergeant Capaldi

        advised that they were vast premises but if stewarding was

        improved, it would make a difference.

 

        The Chair asked if there had been any other reported incidents from

        other premises but Mr Park said it was more noise nuisance. Mr

        McIver added that at the last Pub Watch meeting in Helensburgh, it was

        mentioned that 2 patrons had been arrested outside the Clyde Bar for

        disorder on 30^th May which was reported to Police Scotland. Sergeant

        Capaldi confirmed this but did not have any paperwork relating

        to the incident.

 

        Lorna Douglas asked Ms Nikolic how many weekends had the premises

        been operating under the restricted terminal hour and she replied 7,

        traded for 3 weeks then closed on Friday evenings only then closed

        premises one week ago.

      

        On summing up, Mr McIver said that his clients could only prove that the

        changes would work if they were given an opportunity to put them in

        place.

       

        Ms Nikolic referred to incidents at other premises and added that military

        personnel were involved in the majority of incidents, therefore asked if

        the Board could contact the Navy to express their concerns.

       

        Everyone agreed that they had a fair hearing.

 

        The Board adjourned to consider the matter further. On resuming, the

        Chair moved that the curfew of 11.00pm be removed but the terminal

        hour of 1.00am remain and a condition to be added to change the

        stewards. This would be reviewed again at the November meeting

    

        With no-one else being otherwise minded, this became the decision of

        the Board.