Agenda item

To consider the report of the Chief Officer, Elections and Regulatory on an application to vary a premises licence held by Pitza Cano 59-61 Queens Road, Leeds, LS6 1HY.

(Report attached)

The Chief Officer Elections and Regulatory submitted a report that set out an application to vary a premises licence held by Pitza Cano, 59-61 Queens Road, Leeds, LS1 1HY.

This hearing had previously been adjourned from 9^th April 2019.

In summary, the application sought to:

·  Add the sale of alcohol to accompany a takeaway meal;

·  Monday  to Saturday 17:00 – 03:00

·  Sunday 17:00- 02:00

Representations had been received from Ward Members on the grounds of public nuisance and from the West Yorkshire Police and Licensing Authority as the premises is sited within the Headingley and Hyde Park Cumulative Impact Policy area.

In attendance at the meeting were:

Farah Hassani – Owner Pitza Cano

Ghaise Hassani – Owner Pitza Cano

David Parker – West Yorkshire Police

Susan Holden - Licensing Authority

Mr and Mrs Hassani informed the Members of the following:

·  Pitza Cano had been established for 25 years, they had taken over the operation 3 years ago;

·  They wished to sell a bottle of wine as part of a meal deal so that their customers did not have to go elsewhere to purchase a bottle of wine from one of the local 24 hour supermarkets;

·  The wine would not be consumed on the premises it was to be offered only as off sales;

·  The current licence had been granted on 14 July 2006;

·  They had considered the Cumulative Impact Policy (CIP) and would not seek to add to the difficulties in the area by undertaking the following:

o  CCTV would be installed, they were currently in the process of receiving quotes. This would cover the external areas to the front and rear of the premises as well as the inside of the premises;

o  The person on duty would check the I.D. of the person purchasing the wine;

o  Alcohol would not be sold to anyone who was already too intoxicated;

In responding to questions from the Members the Sub-Committee were informed of the following points:

·  The premises have always been safe with no issues;

·  The premises have a good reputation with the Police, even using the premises for food orders;

·  Alcohol would not be consumed on the premises therefore no issues of drunken behaviour in the premises;

·  The person purchasing the meal deal with wine would have to provide identification such as a driving licence or similar I.D.;

·  They as owners of a premises would not be able to control behaviour or issues which happen away from the premises;

·  The meal deal would only be to supply wine, no beer or spirits and the wine would only be sold with the purchase of food;

·  Only one meal deal including wine would be sold per person;

·  Staff including delivery drivers would receive training in order to ensure they sought age verification for those customers who looked younger, including those in their early twenties;

·  There is usually only one person on the tills on an evening and they would notice if the same person came in more than once to order a meal deal with wine

Mr Parker on behalf of West Yorkshire Police informed the Members of the reasons that they had sent representations as follows:

·  Hyde Park area is part of the CIP and the Pitza Cano premises is located within this area;

·  There are a number of student houses located nearby and this area has seen an increase of crime levels during late evening and early morning, Members attention was drawn to the crime statistics for the area;

·  There are no issues with this particular premises. However, the application to vary the licence to provide late night refreshment to 03:00 would in their view have an impact on the area;

·  The owners had not provided the amount of details required for the fitting of CCTV or sufficiently demonstrated how they would mitigate issues related to ensuring that the CIP was adhered to;

Mr Parker suggested that should the Members be minded to grant the application that West Yorkshire Police would propose that a number of conditions be added to the licence relating to CCTV, premises being food led, age verification specifically Challenge 25, no strong beers or ciders to be sold, alcohol to be sold only as part of a meal deal, no external advertising of alcohol and that there be an incident report register.

The Officer on behalf of the Licensing Authority explained that the area the premises are situated in is primarily a student area, however this is changing and more families are now moving into the area. Nearby there is a primary school, a mosque and two premises with late alcohol licences.

The Officer questioned the clientele that would be purchasing a meal deal with wine at 3:00am and anticipated that most would be on their way home from town and already in drink.

The Officer highlighted the statistics for the area within her representation which showed that alcohol related nuisance peaks at 11pm to 5am and drunk and disorderly behaviour at 8pm to 2am.

It was noted that the premises had a good reputation with people travelling far to purchase food.

It was also noted that the operating schedule did not provide sufficient detail for control.

The Sub Committee carefully considered the information submitted, both written and oral, and

RESOLVED- That the application be granted with the following conditions added:

·  Suitable CCTV system to be in operation at the premises at all times when it was being used for the provision of licensable activities and /or  when members of the public are permitted to be on the premises;

·  CCTV will record images to cover all areas of the premises to which the public have access (except toilets, including external areas;

·  CCTV will have capability of retaining images for a minimum of 31 days, be of good quality, with the date and time;

·  CCTV images to be available on request to an officer of a responsible authority;

·  Use of Challenge 25 for age verification;

·  Incident Report Register to be maintained at the premises;

·  The premises to remain predominantly food led;

·  The sale of high strength beers, ciders and lagers of 7.5% prohibited;

·  No advertising containing reference to alcohol to be displayed on the premises frontage or the highway abutting the premises;

·  Sale of alcohol only as part of a meal deal;

·  Sale of alcohol as part of a meal deal only available for collection.