Agenda item

The report of the Chief Officer Elections and Regulatory requests Members consideration on an application to vary a premises licence made by Amir Khan for ParmNfrites, 29 Otley Road, Headingley, Leeds, LS6 3AA.

The Chief Officer Elections and Regulatory submitted a report for Members consideration of an application to vary a premises licence made by Amir Khan for ParmNfrites, 29 Otley Road, Headingley, Leeds, LS6 3AA.

Attending the meeting were:

• Amir Khan - Applicant
• Mohammed Mahmood – Applicants Associate
• Vanessa Holroyd – Environmental Protection Team (EPT)
• Ian Barraclough – Public Objector

The Legal officer explained the procedure for the hearing.

The Licensing Officer presented the application informing the Members of the following points:

• The application was to vary an existing license to add the provision of late night refreshment for the hours of Sunday – Thursday 23:00 – 0:00 and Friday & Saturday 23:00- 02:00. There was no proposal to alter the licensed hours for service of alcohol.
• A copy of the application form was available at appendix B, with section M detailing how the applicant will promote the licensing objectives.
• West Yorkshire Police (WYP) and EPT had objected as responsible authorities, with an agreement reached, and objection withdrawn from WYP. Details of the agreement, which was available at appendix E, proposed conditions for CCTV, alcohol service and deliveries. EPT’s objection remained outstanding, with suggested conditions available at appendix D proposing earlier licensed times until 0:00 every day.
• 11 letters of public objection, including submission by a local resident’s association, remained outstanding. Details of the objection comments were available at appendix F and were opposed on the grounds of public nuisance, crime and disorder and public safety.
• The premises was within the Headingley Cumulative Impact Area (CIA) with details of CIA policy available at appendix G, with specifics for Headingley at page 133 of the report.
• A list of other licensed premises within the locality were available at appendix H.

The applicant’ provided the Sub-Committee with the following information:

• The premises had 30 covers and acted as a hot food eatery and takeaway, and currently did not stock or serve alcohol, despite holding a license to do so.
• The application had been submitted to suite the business model to sell food at later hours. Two Temporary Event Notices (TEN) had been submitted by the applicant to run the premises until the hours of 02:00 and 03:00, with no complaints or issues noted.
• Agreements had been reached with WYP, with improved CCTV proposed and footage to be held for 31 days to mitigate risk to public safety and discourage anti-social behaviour.
• With local bars closing at around 02:00, the proposed 02:00 closing hours for the premises will encourage people to leave venues earlier in order to purchase food, contributing to less alcohol consumption, sobering people up with food and a secure place people can order taxis from.
• The applicant was prepared to provide security staff on Fridays and Saturdays until 02:00.
• The yellow and black external facades were noted to be soft and calming.
• The applicant will assist responsible authorities when ever required to.
• Other takeaways were licensed until 03:00 within the locality and had less covers.
• No music will be played after 23:00 every day, the extraction fan will be reduced to 75-80% capacity and the rear door will be closed after 0:00 to mitigate noise and disturbance to nearby residents.

Responding to questions from Members the Sub-Committee were informed of the following by the applicant:

• I am Doner, a local takeaway was noted to be licensed for hot food until 03:00 on Fridays and Saturdays.
• The application was just for sale of food until 02:00 Friday and Saturday and 0:00 on weekdays.
• No sale or stock of alcohol was proposed, the business had taken over the premises 4 months prior to the hearing, with the previous business stocking alcohol.
• The toilet inside the premises would be available to customers until closing time.
• CCTV from the nights the TENs were permitted could be provided to Members as proof of a well managed business and limited noise.
• People will be able to wait for taxis after purchasing food at the premises.
• Outlining how approval will not impact the CIA, it was noted that, nearby bars were licensed until 02:00 and this application was for the same time, encouraging people to leave early to purchase food, trade at later hours will mainly comprise of seated consumption of food, with other takeaways not holding a large volume of covers and thus taking more people off the streets, toilet provision will assist with public urination issues and for the 26 days that the TENs had been held, there had been no complaints.
• It was estimated that 80% of customers had consumed their food at the premises after 23:00 during the TENs.
• The applicant was accepting of the proposed additional condition suggested by Members to only allow on site food consumption and deliveries after 23:00.
• It was confirmed that the applicant was content to provide security from 23:00 to 02:00 on Fridays and Saturdays.
• The most recent TEN had expired a week before the hearing, which had been incredibly busy given it was the first week back for students at Universities in Leeds.
• The applicant outlined they may be prepared to remove alcohol from their license and noted they will not stock or sell alcohol but would prefer to keep it on the license for the premises if it was resold in the future.
• If there was ever a change to the business model and the premises was to start trading alcohol the applicant will notify the Council.

The objectors addressed the Sub-Committee providing the Members with the following information:

EPT

• The Officer held 28 years of experience and was well versed in noise and nuisance complaints, noting, that nearby residents will suffer if this application was granted.
• The area was a bottle neck for people drinking on the Otley run, which begins at Woody’s Ale House, with multiple premises people will drink at before arriving to the area where the premises was.
• The area experienced high levels of intoxicated people, particularly on Saturdays and Sundays, creating nuisance for local residents, such as urination in gardens and disturbance late at night.
• The extra hours for sale of hot food will keep people in the area late at night instead of them going home.
• Some mitigation measures had been offered by the applicant but there was a flat above the premises where there was potential for the residents to suffer with the extension of trading hours.
• As the premises had 30 covers, the door staff may assist with outdoor disturbance but noise of lots of intoxicated people indoor will create disturbance for the upstairs flat.
• The reduction of the level of the extraction fan will still be noisy and may be needed on full to eliminate smells, and the trade of food late at night will still create noise.
• EPT had suggested an earlier closing time of 0:00 every day to limit disturbance to nearby residents.

Public Objector

·  They had been a resident in the area for over 40 years and the area had changed dramatically over that time. Headingley used to be comprised of significant businesses and was now an area which mainly seemed to cater for students and people drinking on the Otley run.

·  The pandemic had caused a rise in the use of external seating area to encourage social distancing but had now become permanent features for most bars and pubs.

·   The Otley run can be up to 2000 participants on a Saturday and around 1000 on a Sunday, with pubs marking drink prices up to their own benefit with the large numbers of people participating.

·   Food and drink outlets had overtaken the area as the leading business model, affecting people’s enjoyment of the high street.

·  The CIA was in place to address crime and disorder and the applicant had not displayed enough mitigation to show their business won’t contribute to further issues.

·   The pavement along the A6120 road that passes through Headingley was outlined to be narrow, posing danger to the public with large crowds walking through, as well as there being no provision of toilet facilities.

·   Pubs in the area had increased their outdoor covers with the Original Oak holding 1000 outdoor seats yet providing no extra toilets.

·   The evacuation procedure in cases of danger was not clear for the masses of people.

·  The late night takeaway deliveries will increase disturbance from delivery vehicles, with 30% of trade from local restaurants and takeaways being via delivery at later hours.

Responding to questions from Members the following information was provided by the objectors:

• The 30 covers and the intention not to sell alcohol may assist with limiting the amount of people intoxicated in the streets at late hours but the extended hours were still expected to contribute to disturbance to nearby residents, particularly for the upstairs flat.
• There was already a number of options for food outlets late at night in the locality.
• A suggestion was made for the applicant to revoke the sale of alcohol from the license entirely.
• In response to a question regarding not allowing takeaways at certain times, and only permitted deliveries and indoor food consumption, it was noted this may alleviate some disturbance but will still attract people late at night and lead to disturbance as people will have to leave the premises once closed.
• Pubs and bars in the area had staggered closing times to limit congregating so having the takeaway shut at the same time as popular bars will lead to public nuisance.
• No complaints had been received to EPT by the current occupant of the upstairs flat, but the later hours may impact them further and disturbance may also be experienced by future occupants.
• The CIA was proof that there was sufficient provision for drinking establishments and late night takeaways in the area. The Legal Officer advised it was the applicant’s burden to justify that approval of the application will not impact the CIA.
• The Highways department had recently objected to a planning proposal from McDonalds at 4 Otley Road, which had subsequently been refused on the grounds of traffic and associated risks to the public. Highways will likely also have concerns for drivers coming and going for deliveries at this premises.
• Door staff may help mitigate issues outside the premises but footfall in the area was significant and may incur high costs to the applicant. Any condition for door staff will need to be worded correctly to ensure proper provision.

In summing up the applicant outlined the following:

• The TENs showed the business can operate successfully, with no contribution to public nuisance, given that there had been no issues or complaints.
• The dine in option will assist with reducing nuisance given the 30 covers that will take intoxicated people off the streets.
• Food will be provided in trays where people can eat inside and sober up before making their way home.

RESOLVED – To grant the application as applied for, subject to the agreed conditions with West Yorkshire Police and the following additional conditions agreed by Sub-Committee Members:

1. Door staff will be provided for the hours of 23:00 to 02:00 on Fridays and Saturdays.
2. After 23:00 every day, food will only be served for consumption on the premises and via home delivery.