Agenda item

To consider the report of the Chief Officer Elections and Regulatory on an application to vary an existing premises licence, made by Tokyo Industries (Yorkshire) Limited, for Red's True Barbecue Unit 1, Cloth Hall Street, Cloth Hall, Leeds, LS1 2HD. The application seeks to vary the sale by retail of alcohol, provision of regulated entertainment, Late night refreshment, amend and remove conditions as noted in paragraph 3.3 of the report.

 

The report of the Chief Officer Elections and Regulatory presented an application to vary a premises licence, made by Tokyo Industries (Yorkshire) Limited, for Red’s True Barbecue, Unit 1 Cloth Hall Street, Cloth Hall, Leeds, LS1 2HD.

 

In attendance at the meeting were:

·  Paddy Whur – Applicants representative

·  Aaron Mellor – Director of Tokyo Industries (Yorkshire) Limited – Applicant

·  Chris Bateson – Operation Director of Tokyo Industries (Yorkshire) Limited – Observer

·  Ian Twitcher – Operation Manager Tokyo Industries (Yorkshire) Limited - Observer

·  PC Andy Clifford – West Yorkshire Police - Objector

·  Vanessa Holroyd – Environmental Protection Team – Objector

·  Susan Duckworth – Licensing Authority – Objector

 

The Legal Officer outlined the procedure for the meeting.

 

The Entertainment Licensing Officer presented the report providing the following information:

·  The variation application was to vary the Sale by retail of alcohol, Provision of regulated entertainment, Late night refreshment, amend and remove conditions as noted in Paragraph 3.3 of the submitted report.

·  A brief history had been provided for Members’ information and was set out at Paragraph 2 of the submitted report. It was noted that this application was originally scheduled to be heard on 26^th September 2023. However, the applicant’s representative had made an application to adjourn the hearing.

·  A copy of the existing licence was attached to the report at Appendix A.

·  The applicant had applied for:

o  Extension to the permitted hours for exhibition of film and sale of alcohol from the current hours of Monday to Friday 11:00 to 00.30 and Saturday and Sunday 09:00 to 00:30 to proposed hours of Everyday 09:00 to 02:00

o  To extend the permitted hours for live music from the current hours of Monday to Friday11:00 to 23:30 and Saturday and Sunday 09:00 to 23:30 to proposed hours to Everyday 09:00 to 02:00

o  To extend permitted hours for live music from the current hours of Monday to Friday 11:00 to 23:30 and Saturday and Sunday 09:00 to 23:30 to proposed hours of Everyday 09:00 to 02:00.

o  To extend permitted hours for recorded music from the current hours of Monday to Friday 11:00 to 23:30 and Saturday and Sunday 09:00 to 23:30 to proposed hours of Everyday 09:00 to 02:00.

o  To extend late night refreshment from current hours of Everyday 23:00 to 00:30 to the proposed hours of Everyday 09:00 to 02:00

o  To extend the opening hours of the premises from Monday to Friday 11:00 to 01:00 and Saturday and Sunday 09:00 to 01:00 to the proposed hours of Everyday 09:00 to 02:30

o  To amend Condition 47 of the Premises Licence which currently reads ‘100 covers to be maintained at all times’ to read ‘A minimum of 100 chairs at tables will be retained at the premises’

o  To remove the following Conditions:

§  Condition 48 – There will be no admission after 23:00 Sunday to Wednesday

§  Condition 49 There will be no admission after midnight Thursday to Saturday

§  Condition 50 No alcohol to be served other than with a substantial meal.

o  A copy of the redacted application was appended to the report at Appendix B.

o  Representations had been received from responsible authorities including West Yorkshire Police, representation attached at Appendix D, the Licensing Authority, representation attached at Appendix E and Environmental Health Services, representation attached at Appendix F.

o  The premises are located within the cumulative impact area for Leeds City Centre. Details of the cumulative impact policy specific to the Leeds City Centre was attached at Appendix G.

o  A list of premises in the local area and their licensed hours and activities was appended to the report at Appendix H.

 

Mr Whur the applicant’s representative provided the following information to the Sub-Committee:

·  It was recognised that the premises was in the cumulative impact area, but it was the applicant’s view that if Members were minded to grant the extended hours there would be no negative impact on the area.

·  Mr Whur reiterated the amendments to the Conditions and said that the amendments would provide the ability to serve alcohol to customers who may not want to eat. The premises would still be keeping seating for customers and photographs had been provided showing the layout of the premises and the new menus.

·  He said that if the business was not able to move forward it could have a consequence on the retail business for the selling of the Reds True Barbecue sauces which are sold to main supermarkets such as Tesco’s and Asda.

·  Tokyo Industries (Yorkshire) Limited trades at numerous venues around the country as well as Whiskey Down in Leeds City Centre.

·  The cost of living crisis has seen an increase of 40% in the cost of high end meat which these premises use for their menu.

·  The new menu and extended hours would ensure the survival of the business which had opened in 2012. It would be sad for the city if these premises were to close and be unused and boarded up.

·  A Temporary Event Notice (TEN) had been used by the premises and there was no evidence that the longer hours had caused an issue or impacted on the area. He recognised that this was a busy area but there was no specific evidence which could be attributed to his client’s premises.

·  The premises is located on the corner of Call Lane and Cloth Hall Street. Within the vicinity there was Las Iguanas which was a similar operation to Red’s True Barbecue but had an opening time until 03:00am. There was also Guitar Café which it was noted was different, but this also had a licence until 02:00am.

·  Red’s True Barbecue was an award-winning venue, finishing 4^th at the World’s Championship Bar-B-Que in Houston, Texas.

·  The venue would still be seated and there were significant differences to other venues in the location. There would be no discounted drinks, high end cocktails would support the new menu and the venue would still be a cooked meat smoke house. The venue would still be offering meals until 02:00am.

·  Mr Whur made reference to information in one of the supplementary documents from the Licensing Authority in relation to the Bacil radio. He explained to the Sub-Committee that this had related to the previous owners and an historic invoice. He apologised that this had been a ‘messy issue’ which was now being dealt with. In relation to the drug safe it was noted that this was in relation to where the drug safe was kept, this had now been resolved.

·  He said there was no evidence to suggest that complaints of noise nuisance were from these premises and was of the view that they could be generic to the area the premises were located in.

·  It was noted that the premises only had planning permission to open till 01:00am at present and if the Sub-Committee were minded to grant the application they would seek planning permission to extend opening times.

 

Responding to questions from the Sub-Committee the following information was provided:

·  The core business would stay the same, there would still be 100 seats, it would be that people could come to the premises just for a drink rather than have to order a meal, but the option to eat later would remain.

·  The issue in relation to the drug safe was where it was kept not that the premises had an issue with drugs.

·  09:00am opening was an historic opening time on the licence. Red’s True Barbecue served from midday.

·  Even with the removal and amendments to the proposed conditions the licence would still be robust and would be in line with other venues around the country. Reference was made to the Brewdog Case. It was noted that the applicant already had a track record in Leeds and at other venues elsewhere.

·  Members were advised that the kitchen at the premises was large taking up to one third of the premises. Planning permission would be required if this was to be made smaller and the bar larger. The tables were not fixed so that they could be moved easily to cater for larger groups. There would not be enough area for vertical drinking and the proposal was not to reduce the number of seats.

·  It was noted that during lockdown the business had started to supply the Red’s True Barbecue sauces to retail outlets. This was a franchise agreement.

·  Members were informed that the premises in Leeds was the founder restaurant, and this was the award-winning restaurant.

 

West Yorkshire Police provided the following information:

·  This area of the city has a high number of crimes with numerous licensed premises in the area.

·  It was noted that the Police had not objected to the TEN at Red’s True Barbecue as it was not cumulative impact specific. However, it had been noted that on the dates of the TEN’s that the crime statistics had been slightly higher. The Sub-Committee were advised that figures could not be presented to them or taken into account as all parties had not had chance to view the figures prior to the hearing or to present evidence to refute the assertion.

·  The Police were of the view that should the premises be granted extended opening hours where people were able to drink without ordering food there would be an impact in relation to crime and anti-social behaviour.

 

Environmental Health Services provided the following information:

·  These premises are within the red zone and there are residential properties above the premises. Currently people live there knowing that the premises are open until midnight.

·  It was the view of the officer that should the extended hours be granted then the noise from the premises would transfer to the properties above and there would be complaints, especially in relation to noise as when people drink more, they get louder.

·  There is currently noise and anti-social behaviour in this area.

 

Responding to questions from the Sub-Committee the following information was provided:

·  It was confirmed that the blue notices in relation to the extended hours had been put up and a notice in the local paper. However, it was the view that often residents do not object to extended hours on a licence until the extended hours become operational. It was noted that no representations had been received from residents.

·  The Members were informed that complaints had been received in the past although these were not specific to these premises. Mr Whur posed a question through the Chair to request the last complaint received. The Sub-Committee were advised that the last complaint in the red area had been received from flats above the premises on 12^th May 2023, at 12:40am in relation to noise. It was noted that 13 minutes later the noise was still ongoing, however, there was no officer available to attend. It was noted in the system that the noise was attributed to Red’s True Barbecue. On checking with his client Mr Whur informed the Sub-Committee that Red’s True Barbecue had not been open at that time.

 

The Licensing Authority provided the following information:

·  The specific area of Call Lane, Duncan Street and Boar Lane have a high density of people during the night-time economy and therefore, the crime and anti-social behaviour in this area is high. Most of the statistics relate to Saturday and Sunday between 11:00pm and 02:00am. It was noted that engagement in this area with operators is difficult and therefore the use of CCTV was required.

·  It was the view of the officer that there had been a number of red herrings presented before the Sub-Committee namely:

o  Retail sales of sauces, which was not a concern for the licensing authority.

o  The number of chairs or covers as this was not the issue to be considered.

·  It was the view that the issues for consideration were in the high density of people in drink using this area.

·  The premises were seeking a number of changes to conditions which in the view of the officer were to allow Red’s True Barbecue to get people to stay in the venue drinking or to allow the venue to become another venue for people to be able to drink without having to order a meal.

·  It was recognised that the Brewdog Case had taught lessons and that when in a cumulative impact area that all applications could not be refused, but the onus was on the operator to prove that their business proposals would not have a negative impact. It was the view that this venue would become just another 02:00am bar.

 

In summing up Mr Whur said:

·  It was relevant to include the Brewdog submission.

·  There were other venues in this location such as Guitar Café which had a licence for extended hours.

·  The applicant had invested large amounts in these premises and the city.

·  The premises offered proper high quality food options which were well priced.

·  The applicant was not aware of any complaints in relation to the premises and had said that the premises were closed at the time of the complaint in May.

·  Las Iguanas has a late licence and is a similar operation and is close to the premises.

·  It was recognised that the Council had to protect the red zone, but this was a different type of premises.

·  No changes to the plan of the premises can be undertaken without planning permission. It was the proposal for the premises to continue to have 100 seats with one third of the premises taken up by the kitchen.

·  Mr Mellor the applicant was someone the Council could trust and had trusted for many years as had other authorities in the country.

 

Members discussions included:

·  The extended hours requested.

·  The impact on the area.

·  Would food be eaten after 23:00

·  These premises would no longer be food led but with food available.

 

RESOLVED – To grant the application without the removal of Condition 50 - No alcohol to be served other than with a substantial meal.