Agenda item

To consider the report of the Head of Licensing and Registration on an application to vary an existing licence held at OK Karaoke, 9 East Parade, Leeds.

(Report attached)

The sub-committee having regard to the Licensing Act 2003, the Section 182 Guidance and the Authority’s own statement of licensing policy, considered an application for the variation of a premises licence at OK Karaoke, 9 East Parade, Leeds.

The application was for the provision of performance of live music, performance of recorded music, performance of dance, provision of facilities for making music, provision of facilities for dancing and the sale by retail of alcohol for consumption on and off the premises every day from 00:01 to 00:00.

Further to concerns raised by West Yorkshire Police that the application could relate to an alternative business operating within the same premises, the Sub-Committee was asked to consider whether this was the case and whether it should be a full application as opposed to a variation.  With respect to this matter, the applicant’s representative addressed the matter and  made reference to the submitted application that was felt to comply with routine procedures for variation.  There had been some confusion regarding the address following an advertisement that had listed an event as Park Cross Street and not East Parade.  It was confirmed that the premises did have an exit to Park Cross Street, but the application was in fact within the premises accessed from East Parade and was under the same management and staffing. 

Members agreed that this was acceptable as an application for a variation and agreed to proceed with the hearing.

The applicants representative addressed the hearing and raised the following issues:

• The applicant had operated from the premises since 2005.
• The variation would give flexibility to use extra space within the premises giving an increase of about 20 percent.
• Temporary Event Notices had been used for similar operation and these had been successful and without any problems.
• There had been no complaints from residents with the nearest neighbouring residents being a significant distance away.
• The activities at the premises were not predominantly alcohol led and many bookings were of a corporate nature.
• The premises did not usually open until the evening but tended to open earlier during the Christmas period.
• There had been no complaints regarding noise from the premises and there was no plan to change the style of operation at the venue.

The Police representative addressed the meeting.  It was reported that they had not raised any objections to the Temporary Event Notices as there had not been any previous problems with crime and disorder at the premises.  There was concern with the extension to opening hours due to the premises being in a Cumulative Impact Area.

The Environmental Protection representation representative raised concerns regarding the hours of operation applied for and the potential for noise disturbance to residents on Greek Street.

In response to Members questions, both the Police and Environmental Protection representatives indicated that an application with reduced hours would be more favourable.  The applicants representative indicated that they would be willing to reduce the hours of operation to cease  at 0600 on weekdays and 0800 on weekends.

RESOLVED –

That a variation to the Premises Licence be granted as follows:

Provision of performance of live music, performance of recorded music, performance of dance, provision of facilities for making music, provision of facilities for dancing and the sale by retail of alcohol for consumption on and off the premises:

Sunday to Thursday: 12:00 to 05:30, premises to be closed by 06:00

Friday to Saturday:  12:00 to 07:30, premises to be closed by 08:00