Agenda item

To receive and consider the attached report of the Head of Elections, Licensing and Registration

The report of the Head of Elections, Licensing and Registration asked Members to consider an application to vary a premises licence, made by Wm Morrisons Supermarkets PLC, Morrisons 89 Otley Road, Guiseley, Leeds,

LS20 8PS. 

Members heard from Clare Johnson of Gosschalks Solicitors who represented the applicant. Ms Johnson was accompanied by Kelly Nichols and Joanne King both from Morrisons.

Ms Johnson informed that Members that the premises already possessed a premises licence that permitted the sale of alcohol for consumption off the premises between the hours of 06:00-00:00. The variation application was seeking to vary the premises licence to permit the following:

·  On sales in two areas, the café and the Barista bar area;

·  To permit late night refreshment between the hours of 23:00-00:00;

·  To vary the condition which states ‘All checkout operators will operate a refusals log’ so that it now reads ‘All persons involved in the sale of alcohol will operate a refusals log’.

Ms Johnson advised the Sub-Committee that Morrisons had 500 stores throughout the country which were licensed and that in addition to this they had 160 convenience stores which were also licenced. She said that in the eight years that she and her firm had been representing Morrisons not one licence had been taken to review.

Ms Johnson explained that to ensure that the licensing objectives were adhered to the following were in place:

·  Training was provided to all staff involved in the sale of alcohol every 6 months

·  Use of Challenge 25

·  A company called Serve Legal were engaged to visit each store on a monthly basis to check that the Challenge 25 policy was being used by staff. She said that should a member of staff fail to use the Challenge 25 test then all staff in that store were retrained.

·  Till at the checkouts had prompts so that no sale of alcohol could take place outside of the permitted hours.

·  Use of CCTV

·  Use of refusal logs

Members noted that prior to making the application Morrisons had spoken with the Police and had taken their comments on board. It was also noted that there was no representation from any other responsible authorities.

However there had been representation from two local residents who were not present at the meeting.  The residents objections were on the basis that delivery times would change causing noise nuisance and issues in relation to floodlighting. It was noted by Members that these reasons could not be considered with regard to the alcohol licence and should be addressed with Planning.

Members were advised that delivery times would not be changing as the alcohol for the café and Barista areas would be taken from the shelves.

Members were informed that Guiseley was a trial store for this type of licence and if found to be successful would be rolled out across the country. The Members were told that Guiseley is a concept store due to its location close to head office and in an area considered to be one of the more affluent areas of Leeds.

The Sub-Committee were informed that there would be good management control in the store so that customers could not get ‘tanked up’. Morrisons were of the opinion that it would not be an attractive venue for young people to meet and have a drink. The Sub- Committee were also advised that Morrisons would not be promoting on sales of packs of beer, the sale of spirits, or super strength beers, ciders, or lagers. However the Sub- Committee were advised that the sale of some locally brewed beers, ciders or lager would be for sale and that these drinks can be of a higher strength than normal beers, ciders or lagers.

Members discussed this application at length with the discussions including the following points:

·  Many families with children use the café and Barista areas;

·  Whether granting the application would be harmful to children visiting the café;

·  The impact on residents;

·  Would this set a precedent for all supermarkets

·  The potential of rolling this out to all Morrisons stores including those in less affluent areas and the consequences of doing this;

·  Management and control for the selling and the consumption of alcohol in the café and Barista area.

RESOLVED – To grant the variation to the licence as set out in the submitted report.

Under the provisions of Council Procedure Rule 16.5 Councillor Kim Groves requested that it be recorded that she had voted against the decision to grant the application as resolved by the Sub-Committee.