Licensing Sub Committee - Thursday 3 September 2026, 6:30pm

Licensing Sub Committee
Thursday, 3rd September 2026 at 6:30pm

Speaking:

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the licencing subcommittee, formerly held on Thursday the 3rd of September, 2026.

I'm the chair of the licencing committee and for the purposes of this application,

I will be chairing the subcommittee.

The reason I'm explaining this in great depth is because the meeting is held both in person and online,

so that members of the public can see what is happening and if necessary people can contribute.

All the members who will vote on it who are key participants are required by law to be present for the entire hearing

and I'm delighted to say all my colleagues will be here. The meeting will be filmed for the Council's website for public viewing.

I'm now going to invite officers and members to introduce themselves so everybody both present in the room and online knows who is here.

Can I now say something and I will repeat it later on. I will call people to speak but when you have to speak you have to press the button in front of you that produces a red light.

and when you have concluded, switch it off to switch off the red light

because if you don't, all that will appear on this screen to the members of the public is gobbledygook.

So please remember that and it does save me time saying switch it on, switch it off, switch it on, switch it off

which I will end up doing in the evening.

So if now members could start introducing themselves, starting with Corinne Holland, sitting over there.

Corinne Holland, Licencing Officer.

Victoria lower democratic services manager

Johnson Melnick legal advice is a subcommittee

I'm councillor Victoria Lupton

I'm counsellor Ruggi

Does any member of the members present does any member have any

Declaration of disposable pecuniary interest I have absolutely done. I

I have none.

Thank you for that.

That will be recorded into the minutes.

We now formally have apologies for absence, but of course, as the meeting requires three

members legally, and we have three people here, there are no apologies for absence.

Can I invite everybody to note the rules of procedure, which are on pages 9 to 18 on your

bundle.

I will take us through the meeting introducing people at each point

when it comes to

speaking if people

Signal they wish to contribute and that will be the applicants the objectors or if necessary officers

Please signal and I will call you please don't try and talk across anybody else because I should immediately rule you out of order

Because I want the meeting to be conducted as collegiate as possible

We're not in the House of Commons or indeed at the council chamber to council meeting

We're at a meeting to try and help our public. So that's the rules of procedure

Can I now approve the minutes of all or note the minutes of the meeting held on the 30th of June?

The 16th of July and the 12th of August we agree to note them members all agreed

On the 27th of July that's all agreed and if that could be agreed and then I will sign them at the end of the meeting

We now come for decisions for licencing applications

And we have three of us evening and I will take them in the order of they are here on the agenda

Therefore we now move to item 4 .1

Which is the application for a variation of a premises licence for the star of the East?

805 a commercial Road London e14 7hg

Which is pages?

73 to

210 in our bundle

I'm going to invite see do we have the applicant which is mr. Thun only

And

We have an object we have

Logically objector I can see somebody sitting in there presume your mr. Jensen

Mr. Jensen has confirmed he is here

I'm now going to invite and Corinne Holland our senior licencing officer to introduce the report as Holland the floor is yours

You just promoted me there chair, but thank you very much

This is an application for Star of the East Public House at 805 A Commercial Road.

A copy of the variation application is in appendix 1 which can be seen on page 82 to

93. The applicant has described the variation as to extend the permitted hours for the sale

of alcohol and the opening of the premises to allow late night operation.

The hours that have been applied for, and these are obviously extending from what they

currently have, Monday to Thursday until 1am, Friday and Saturday till 2am and Sunday there's

no change.

Late night refreshments are for the same hours, so Monday to Thursday till 1am, Friday to

Saturday till 2am, no change on the Sunday, it won't be late, not the fresh months.

There's an application for live and recorded music for those times as well, 1am Monday

to Thursday, 2am Friday to Saturday and 10 .30 Sunday.

There was slight confusion in the report, I would say on page 74, where it says please

note now this has come out of in the application section E and section F on

page 87 stating on Friday and Saturdays the premises intended to provide recorded

music and DJ entertainment as part of the normal operation. In that time the

applicant has put 1 a .m. but obviously they've applied for 2 a .m. so I feel that

that whole section probably needs clarification from the applicant during

this meeting. The existing licence can be seen in Appendix 2 on page 95. The current

times of the licence for alcohol Monday to Saturday is 11pm and Sunday 10 .30pm. They

currently have 24 hour licence for recorded music only and late night refreshments they

have until 11 .30 in the evening, the non -standard hours for New Year's Eve, New Year's Day.

Photographs of the venue can be seen in Appendix 3, page 107. Maps showing the vicinity of

the premises are on Appendix 4, page 111. Other nearby licenced premises are in Appendix

This hearing is required due to the representations that have been received.

Appendix 6 is from the licencing authority from my colleague Moshen Ali, who unfortunately

can't be here, but that can be seen on page 116.

And then Steve Jensen who is with us today, appendix 7 and that's page 120 to 144.

Then there's a number of other resident representations and other public, we put as public because they're not residents but they're representations.

and they're from appendix 8 on page 146 down to appendix 32 on page 206.

There is one supporting representation and that's in page 33 on page 208.

The majority of the representations are regarding noise nuisance, crime and disorder,

relating to late night alcohol consumption and regulated entertainment.

There's conditions that have been agreed with the Environmental Protection Team and these

can be seen in Appendix 34 on page 210. That's a report. Thank you, Chair.

The existing licence is on page 95, starts on page 95 and that's appendix 2.

Thank you.

I just note from the script that there was the resident who was supporting who was registered

to speak.

I don't know if she's actually present or not.

So I thought we'd better cheque because we'd normally hear her after you hear from the

applicant and she's effectively a supporter. Is Miss Melina Lautenschlager here or not?

I shall take that as a no.

I would assume she would have been sitting in the applicants.

There she is. There we are.

Could I make one thing before we get into the main discussion?

I did receive a number of letters and emails concerning this and to protect impartiality

and to ensure that I'm completely not involved on it.

I referred them all to council officers

to send a polite letter to people just to draw

to attention, to thank them for communicating,

but I have to remain impartial and I will continue to do so.

So thank you very much.

And that one.

Right. We now move.

I'm now going to move to invite Mr. Thonoli, the applicant,

to put his case and we're going to give you every agreed time, five minutes.

And you have five minutes to make your case.

Good evening everyone. Thank you for getting the opportunity to talk here.

So actually the idea of coming for a late extension came up because we have many clients coming in

guests coming in saying like they're all working in Kendry Wharf. We are very close to the

Kendry Wharf so most of them are working there. So once they come in like by the time they

reach home it'll be 8, 8 .30 or something. Then by the time they'll be back to the pub

it'll be 9, 9 .30. By the time we are saying it's the last store that you have to leave.

So we get many, many, many recommendations from everyone saying that can you request

for an extension. So that's one of the reasons we opt for an extension because if you see

the pub morning hours is almost empty because everyone goes for work and

mainly on the weekends a few people come in still it's not that fully packed only

on the public holidays it's fully packed otherwise it's like few 30 40 people

that's it so after hearing their requests multiple times then we thought

of like applying for an extension because they really enjoy the place and

they like to sit there socialise talk to people and I can now I pass by I get

into the pub. I feel the smiley face on everyone's face so I thought okay let's

request for an extension and most of them are very decent behaving clients

that was what I feel them because they just go out just go to their home they

didn't made any noise in the last six months that's what I observed because I

started this pub from last November but there are a lot of people in the street

like I would say I don't know like a druggies people who make problems to

with others, a lot of people outside.

So we don't allow them to come inside the pub,

but they are there, they make disturbance to the people,

which we have complained of multiple times to the police.

Even one of them came and dropped some of the things

from after we had the camera footage

and police get all catched then.

But yeah, it's some random person

which we don't even identify with him.

So that is one situation on the street.

So most of the people, our guests comes in,

just go out, they don't stay back in the street,

because it's not safe outside the street.

I know after this application most of the residents very close to us have concerns and

I'm not ignoring any of those concerns but for the larger community people are there

and I think there is more than 50 plus people had objections on this one. I'm not dispersing

their concerns. I know I don't want them to tolerate.

Would you please address your comments to me and members of the committee and not look

at other members of the committee?

I like to address the concerns and come up with a solution that is in the middle ground

where we can both work together because I want to be part of that committee because the pub is there from last 150 years and

I don't want to be anyone to be, that pub to be away from the committee because this pub is for the community.

And if, and we have actually really good plans to work on this one once we get the extension,

we are planning for some acoustic changes to control the noises considering the building age.

It's a great tool -listed building and it's hard to maintain it, but still we are finding ways to improve the acoustic controls.

And on top of it, we are planning for

training the staff for the disbursement where there will be

people on the gate and they will be reminding people not to make any noise while they are leaving.

And some operation plans which you can bring down some of the activities which is not noisy that can also bring into the pubs which will not

the feelings of others.

And I just want to understand from also the community side,

like what they expect us to do so that we are planning,

if they agree, the community, the surrounding neighbours agree,

we can have a Sunday meeting with people like around half an hour

so that we can discuss those issues.

I'm not saying we can make everything right,

but the issues which pop up every month,

we can have a sit down and talk to them and they can talk to us and we can find a solution

together so that it won't hurt any of their privacy or anything.

So I'm happy to come up with a responsible pub operator with reasonable conditions where

everything go in a reasonable way.

Yep, that's it.

Thank you.

Thank you very much. I'd now like to invite Mr Jensen to spend two or five minutes to say why you are objecting to the application.

Thank you. So, thank you for allowing me to come and speak. I just want to begin by making one thing clear.

We're not objecting to the Star of the East operating as a pub.

My family and I have supported its original development because we wanted a good relationship with our neighbour and a successful community pub.

We still want that.

The question today is much more specific.

It's extending the hours of the premises to 1 or 2am appropriate for this particular building, this particular street and this particular community.

And I believe the evidence strongly suggests it's not.

The Star of the East already has approximately 80 hours of potential business every week.

The proposed extension is therefore not about whether the business can operate.

It's about intensifying the operation into the most sensitive hours of the night.

Our objection relates directly to the four licencing objectives.

I think I've highlighted in my comments I've sent for my objection.

So I'm not going to go through them all. I've written them all down and I've got this like incredible thing that I've written out

But I won't have time

But we've lived on the commercial road for 13 years and in particular in recent months the immediate area is becoming more and more challenging

There's you know

Street experiences homelessness drug -taking street drinking begging fighting and lots of antisocial behaviour

Recently I was chatting to the vicar from St Anne's Church because I had to call the police

because we had a naked homeless man washing himself in the church tap.

That was last week.

And I'm not attributing any of these things to the Star of the East because it's nothing to do with it.

I only highlight that because we live in a very, very challenging part of Tower Hamlet.

It's not getting better, even though we've really tried our best to do that.

So, I'll go on to the most compelling reason why, I think.

And it's really straightforward about my objection, really.

The Star of the East and our home are not simply neighbourhood buildings.

They are the same circa 1850 Grade II listed building.

It was constructed for electricity, let alone amplified music.

Timber floors and joists are keyed directly into structural masonry.

Structural elements are physically connected.

There is no meaningful modern acoustic separation between the pub and our home.

Bass and amplified music therefore do not simply travel through the air, they travel through the building.

walls, floors, ceilings transmit vibration,

resonance directly into our living room and bedrooms.

The original listed single glazed windows,

they're listed, provide very little protection from

external noise or garden noise.

This isn't theoretical, this is our everyday experience.

Even simple activity in the pub, the coffee machine for example,

or the quiz that they have on a...

I'm not sure if they're still doing the quiz.

Just with the microphone we can hear the questions in our living room.

So we're really vulnerable in that respect.

So the thought of having a two o 'clock,

one or two in the morning, these disturbances

is dreadfully stressful for my family and I.

So, on Saturday they had a live music event in the pub.

And at 8 .30, drums, guitar, singing, I mean it's fairly good music to be honest.

But literally we sit, we had to turn the television off.

We sit in our living room, we go upstairs, it's out there upstairs.

I understand the current licence says there should be no recorded, no music which disturbs us, the neighbours.

And it should be self -regulated. It's the responsibility of the licensee to understand what the neighbours are putting themselves through.

And we don't have that conversation, we've never had that from all the operators in the pub.

They've never come to us in any way about our feelings, our experiences.

In the end at 11 .20 Charlotte, my partner, went physically round there and asked him to turn it off

because the music went on for I think 45 minutes, then it had an hour's or 45 minutes break and then another 45 minutes.

This has happened over the last 13 years on and off regardless of who operates the pub.

They don't consider the neighbours. We are directly on that structural wall.

If they want to have live music, spend some money, make it acoustically separated.

It's a very simple thing.

I'm a professor at the Royal College of Art and I teach and practise reuse of historic buildings.

I'm an expert in this field.

And I can tell you now that having structural coupling of properties is really difficult to solve.

And as I said before, this building was built in 1850, where electricity wasn't invented, let alone amplified music.

So the property isn't designed for, in any way, amplified music.

So that's my major concern.

And then I'll sum it up really. I mean we've lived in the area for 15 years.

We arrived, the property was derelict. I've spent 10 years building it myself.

Spent all my money building it. It's a beautiful, beautiful building. I love it.

We've kept on that street all these years trying to build, make it safe and

make it nice. We brought up two kids. My daughter over there, she's an Olympic

medalist she is trained. Mr Jensen you really are running over time. I'd like you to very quickly conclude.

I want to finish on a positive note my conclusion.

I understand the pressures of keeping a pub viable.

I want the Star of the East to succeed but extending alcohol

led activity. I think we've got the message now.

Mean you've had

We must have natural justice, thank you

Colleagues we've now heard from the licencing officer and both the applicant and the objectors

Two colleagues have any questions council out. I think do you have a question? Yes you do

Mr. Tonoli, about some of the objections that were raised.

So some of the concerns were around staffing in the pub and an allegation that back in

December all of the staff were fired and there was a huge turnover and that the pub, allegations

around the management of the pub.

So I just wanted to understand, you know, if you could just talk to us about the staff

and how long your team have been there and what kind of skills they have in running it.

And then the second one was about relations with neighbours.

And there's been a few in the representations,

a few people saying that, you know,

there hasn't been a meaningful effort to reach out

and to have conversations with the neighbours

and intimidating behaviour, that kind of thing.

So if you could just speak a little bit

to those relations with staff and with neighbours.

So I'll start with the staff first,

because we took the operation last year, November.

So it was over employed at that time,

Because looking into the revenue what we are collecting to the payment made to the employees,

like we were making losses in the first two months, like huge losses.

So I was instructing the manager so that rather than having many staff,

like for an example I will tell you that in a counter we have a capacity of only four,

but on the weekends he keeps five.

So that will add up to the cost of the employees at end of the month.

I have to put money from my hand for two months.

It's not a small amount, a huge amount.

Then I instructed the manager to release the staff

or we have to find different way to run the pub

because earlier I was running another hotel,

three star hotel in Ipswich, I was a manager there.

So that's only option if we can't make profits

or we are losing money and the investors will leave

so I don't have an option.

So the similar way I just told him,

I can't run the pub more than this much of months

if the losses go this way because I'm also an accountant,

and I'm getting money from my salary

and that's what I'm funding all these things from.

So he couldn't do that.

We waited for another month.

Then we said, then better,

we will reduce the number of stuff.

That's only option I have.

So I have to take control of the pub.

And we even removed the,

because the manager said I can't do it and he resigned.

So then the only option for me to run the pub off my own.

So I'm putting my time on my accounting job

available there every day.

On the weekends I'm there, but the weekends I'm not.

And the second thing is...

Just about local residents and relationships with them.

I talked to the previous management, because after Covid we are the third operators.

Because of the reason, as I told earlier, morning's pub is empty.

If we say 80 hours we are operating, in reality the customer who is sitting at our pub may be like in a week, 20 -30 hours.

That's it. Because otherwise it's all empty.

Morning. Even I shut down the pub from January to May.

I didn't open until five. So I was opening after five.

But then the summer came, I thought, okay,

maybe some people will come. So I opened from morning.

Even now, it's still empty.

We hardly make 100 pounds running from morning to evening

with two staff, three staff.

Doesn't even pay my entity bills.

So that's the situation.

So I heard from previous two managements

after COVID, it was three altogether, including me,

that there was a problem for the neighbour

because it's in the same building.

And I asked them what was the solution

you found at those days.

They said, they couldn't find a solution

because the building is a very old building.

We can't do much of the work.

And one of them who was operating in 2022,

he said they tried for soundproof sit -away,

like building structural difference or something.

That was estimated to be around 420 ,000 they have to invest to do that because

everywhere they need to do the flooring, roofing, sides, everywhere. So they said

that is not impossible thing that's why we left the pub and we leave the operation.

So we sold to another one. It's not sold, they gave it to someone because they

couldn't operate it. And the previous company also they just left, they didn't

sold it to me. They just said we couldn't operate that's why we are leaving. And if

situation previous I'll be in the same situation. I have to leave maybe I'm not

saying I'm leaving but I'm saying. So as a pub we don't have a choice music

should be there right otherwise who will come. Even now it's a big property

have 200 plus seating two three storeys everything is there nice building 1815

very decorated building but when you see the crowd it's only 30 40 people

sitting there. The whole space is unused. So unless there is no live event where

people can come and sit and do something, they will say it's same as sitting at

home. So what's the point? I come and spend all this money and time. So this is

what my confusion also from the day beginning. Like if I don't listen to the

customers who's coming and saying that we can come only at nine o 'clock and we

need some more extended hours. If I don't do that, they won't come. If I listen to

out of the neighbour saying that it's some...

I've been in confusion, I don't know what to do.

And we tried to, I wrote a letter that, okay,

be on the new management in a paper,

and I put it in the letterbox in February,

mid -February somewhere, because I don't know

who is the member, sorry.

That's working, yeah.

Off.

Could you...

Because we're almost losing the thread of it. You had a fairly clear question that could have been answered in a few sentences.

I think if you could focus your answers as succinctly as possible, because we have plenty of business to do this evening,

we want to give everybody a hearing. We want to give you and all your colleagues a hearing as well.

So could you please be focused on exactly what was asked?

Thank you.

So regarding the neighbours, we have an approach.

So just before you go on, can I perhaps, I don't know

if anyone else is, but I'm certainly having a little bit

of trouble hearing you at points.

I don't know if it's because of where the microphone is,

but perhaps if you could maybe move it a little bit closer

to you and probably try to speak into it a bit more,

that might help us all.

Thank you.

If you look at where I'm sitting,

the microphone is not positioned in front of you.

So position yourself in front of the microphone.

Now switch.

Yeah, now I think it's okay.

Yeah, sorry.

I'm not used to it, sorry.

Okay, so the neighbours actually,

I talked to the previous managements to understand

how was their relationship with the neighbours.

They said this is what happened,

and they tried to extend or they talked to the neighbours

to get things go smoothly.

But they didn't got any support from them.

and I told my staff also if any neighbours are coming let them know that we like to talk to them

but most of the very close neighbours are not visiting us

so we didn't get an opportunity to talk to them

so but his building is...

I'm sorry you really are going round in a circle

I think you need to answer the question quickly

you were asked a pretty simple question

I think we have enough

I said, I said, we said, you said, they said, it's going round in a circle.

I understand what you're trying to get at, but we must be pretty clear.

Councillor Lupton, have you any further questions?

Well, I just wanted to understand about the...

My understanding is that there is a 24 hour entertainment licence already pertaining to the pub.

So technically the music is allowed 24 -7, is that right?

So I guess what's the changes is the ability to be selling alcohol late at night rather than the ability to keep the pub open and to be playing the music, is that right?

I didn't understand it properly. So you mean 24 hours?

My understanding, there was some confusion around the papers, but my

understanding is that your current licence allows you to be playing

entertainment and music 24 hours, is a 24 -hour licence. What you're

requesting is a change in the alcohol provision, is that right?

Yeah.

Okay.

Corinne.

They're changing the entertainment as well and adding live music and obviously changing

the times.

The 24 hours is sort of a bit of our historic grandfather right thing that came over with

the licence so the current hours are for live and recorded music till one and two which

will then remove the 24 hour thing.

I'd like, it's a question really to Mr Jensen, you've been fairly clear in objections of saying you've been disturbed on noise.

Have you run the council's noise department and requested they come on and do a noise test, and if so what was the response and what happened?

On Saturday I went on the Tower Hamlets website and went through to the noise, out of hours noise team.

You go through several prompts and then get cut off. I did it three or four times.

So I sent an angry email to licencing saying a noise, saying what the hell is going on, we're not protected at all.

Over the years I've had multiple conversations with people.

No one seems to come round and be there when we're experiencing it.

Because if you come in on the day it's perfectly reasonable.

And when the pub is just a pub it's perfectly reasonable.

As I said we can hear ambient sounds and we put up with it.

We're okay with living next door to a pub.

That's not the objection.

The objection is when they put a drum kit or hang huge bass bins or have extra DJ things right next to our wall, our walls vibrate.

So it's not the objection to being a pub and being a normal pub, it's the kind of like... the music.

So really to get to the chase you have tried and failed to report this to the local authority for noise.

On Saturday yeah, a complete failure and over the years I've phoned and it's a useless system.

The out of hours system is utterly not fit for purpose and for people who are really vulnerable on a Saturday it's a terrible thing.

I think we can record that you you have on previous occasion

Tried and being unable to get through to the council to report it. So that's the simple thing there

Miss Holland, do you have any idea what would have happened on noise on this because if residents are saying they've got a noise problem

Which will really really affect the environment and of course some environmental health with them

There is no representation from environmental health noise team.

They have agreed conditions which are on page 210.

Let's go through to the, let's go and have a look at the conditionings because it may save us time.

Mr. Jensen have you seen the conditions on page 210?

No, I haven't no.

I haven't been cop -

I haven't been given this document.

I haven't been sent it.

Mr. Melnick is going to address something.

Just so that you're aware what Mr. Jensen is looking at are the agreed conditions that

you agreed with the noise team. I don't know if you remember speaking to a chap called

Tim Hung in the noise team, you agreed six, no, seven conditions if the application was

granted, do you remember that? That was on the 26th of March, yes?

Well it was sent to an email

I think

Well Mr Hung says

Have we got another pack?

I think I have one male that was terms and conditions of the meeting.

you

Corrine yes, please. I've seen an email here from the applicant to the noise team

Agreeing the noise conditions on the 25th of March this year

Mr. Jensen

I'm just because I've just seen these now so forgive me if I'm just perhaps not getting it

But but it says some condition

So, Section 3, no noise shall emanate from the premises nor vibration be transmitted through the structure of the premises, which gives rise to public nuisance.

So, how is that going to be checked and how is that going to be enforced?

Because in my experience over the years, and especially on Saturday night, there is no regulation if they are adhering...

Okay, we've heard what you said. I mean the point is it will be enforced by the council.

Once the condition is agreed it can be enforced by the council.

Right, okay. Thank you.

That's the point. If the condition is agreed, if the licence is granted with that agreed

condition then the council has a right to go in and say you're breaking that condition.

Okay.

So, at some point in specifically referring to one recent day you've got to actually have

something there and of course we've got to agree that condition because at the moment

the condition is not in place.

Okay, thank you.

I can work on all these conditions,

considering this, I like.

Oh yeah, sorry.

Considering the age of the building,

will there be kind of any vibrations?

I'm not good at linguistic things, so I need to know.

I need to just cheque and see that one.

Otherwise, rest of the things, yeah, I can handle it.

It's a point number three.

You would accept those conditions.

Were we mindful to grant this application, you would accept those conditions?

Yes.

Mr Jensen, you've heard what the applicant has said.

I mean, I go back to the, you know, this commercial premises next door has 80 hours a week to

make a business.

And I think with all the challenges we're facing, having another two or three hours

into the deep night in our physical situation, to me, it's unenforceable.

I think it is enforceable. The problem is, of course, it's controversial,

which is a slightly different subject.

I'm not sure whether who to direct.

I think I'm going to direct this to Corinne.

If you go to the map on page 111, and I am fairly familiar,

if you actually look at the top map, you can see behind the start

of the east that there has

in recent years been quite substantial residential

development there, which has come in in, and I would say come in in very recent years.

I mean I know it's come in in recent years, I've been around there and seen it. Would

that affect the application if you, I mean Jonathan if you know, absolutely, which wasn't

there.

I think, Chair, I'd certainly, some of the, I'd have to cheque which particular ones, but

certainly when I was reading through the representations there are some who say I live behind the premises

Presumably they are in that development at the end of the day you have to focus on what representations you have from the people that you have

Very much to cost because if you've got the mile and road you've got a statue building there

Which is the which is the post office sorting premises, but there has been

residential development surrounding the premises that is what I would say I

I go back to the point of, applicant, you are quite clear that were we mindful to grant

this application, we will impose these conditions on your application, you would accept them.

Yes, I can manage it.

Any further questions from members?

Victoria.

This is a question for Corinne, so I'm not sure if I can ask it.

I just, Corinne, in your introduction you said there was a bit that was unclear, there

was potentially some lack of clarity that you thought it might be worth getting into,

but I missed which page you were talking about then.

In the report on page 74, which is the first page of the report really, there is a section

there that says please note and it's sort of that whole paragraph that has sort of

been lifted out of the application in section E and F which are on page 87 so

it's not really clear I didn't think reading it quite what he means by that

because then obviously the time doesn't correlate to what he's actually applying

for on a Friday and Saturday and then there's a difference between live DJ and

recorded music and DJ entertainment you know that wasn't clear and that's come

out of the application I don't even think that that's clear. I understand so

in the in the application Mr. Tonoli you you talked about it going that the DJ

music will go on until 1 a .m. on Fridays and Saturdays but the application says

until 2 a .m. It's to stay open until 2 a .m. and similarly it then says that live

DJ shows will be until 11 p .m. on Fridays and Saturdays because you could

you clarify between those.

Okay so actually when we close the pub so we will tell the guests that we will stop like offering them the

alcohol or drinks or food half an hour, one hour before it.

So one o 'clock we will stop our operations

but they will have enough time to leave.

So until two o 'clock.

That was the confusion I had like that.

Okay, we will stop the operations

but we'll give some time for them to leave the premises.

So that's like until one we'll operate

and then the rest of the one hour they need to leave.

So we will close at two, we'll stop.

The music stops at one and serving in the bar stops at one.

Yes, yeah.

That's what I thought of like, is that not confusing because we're put you've requested a licence until to

But then it's discretionary to close at one

Think it's at the end of the day what it says in section a the first thing where all the timings are set out are

Standard days and timings then asks for further details which are effectively meant to assist obviously the lack of clarity doesn't and then

then the bit where it's been lifted out of the report is actually from the non -standard timings.

That's normally where you'd say something like you'd get your extended hours from the end of permitted hours

on New Year's Eve to the start of permitted New Year's Day.

That kind of thing.

And I think in this instance it has to be just accepted.

There's a degree of confusion sometimes for people doing these forms.

They don't necessarily understand.

You have your standard timings there.

that's what he effectively is applying for.

And there sometimes can be, as I think Corinne briefly mentioned,

some confusion as to whether a DJ is live music, recording music, possibly both.

It's slightly confusing.

Sorry, that final paragraph which says live DJ will take place until 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays,

that's just a mistake I think.

Actually you're saying until 1am.

Think we've reached the point of questions and

We've had a full discussion. We now move on to concluding remarks and I'm going to invite mr. Jensen to

address us for one minute on what we've heard and

Then the applicant for one minute for now. I was then I will explain the next station of the process. Mr. Jensen

And I

I cannot see in any amplified music if these are the terms of the licence, what's the point in putting the music on.

Because we will hear every single vibration, because it's amplified.

So the resonance goes through the building, through the floors, into the wall, into our living room.

So I'll be phoning the council every night, because we can hear it.

So it states here that if we get vibration and transmitted through our house,

I don't know what they will do in that circumstance.

And we're very fortunate in Limehouse, we've got beautiful pubs of the same era.

None of them have music. They're historic, beautiful pubs.

We have a historic, beautiful building.

The previous owners put Sky TV in and wanted music, but it's a beautiful go -to venue.

People queue up outside looking at the building.

You can fight that, you can bring customers in, in a different way.

You don't have to become like every other place.

And so that's a challenge, but it's also a brilliant thing, because where we are is Limehouse.

The applicant, you have a minute, and I really do feel we must have a minute because we're

running behind time.

Yeah, because the situation of most of the pubs, because I work as an accountant, so

most of the pubs, they are not surviving, most of them shutting down. And now, compared

the cost of having alcohol or drinking from home is far more higher when you go to a pub.

So the other way around, sorry. So I have to find reason for people to come in otherwise it won't

survive. So these conditions, it is reasonably I can just work on these conditions and I will

try my best to support the way any disturbance is happening to anyone. So if any complaints comes in

I will try to sort it out myself, I'll be there, and we'll work out a plan if there is any more disturbance coming in.

Thank you very much, thank you for your contributions.

After the meeting formally concludes, the panel will deliberate in a private session.

We will be advised by Mr Melnick and Democratic Services on legalities,

but the decision will be ours and ours alone and you will be notified

whether the decision was unanimous or by majority.

It will reach you within five working days.

I will say to the objector, were we mindful to grant as things stand,

you and other residents have every right to object in the future

And if conditions are attached attached on noise level then the council must come and investigate those noise

and if they don't then

You have real cause to object to the highest level of the council

So I think there is something on levels of noise, but that will be if the committee

Is mindful of granting I just explained the future but what could happen the future? Thank you for coming

And thank you for bearing with us. I'm sorry

We had the slight delay at the beginning of the meeting, but here we are and we're all already, but thank you for coming along this evening

We will change over

seats because we're going to have

I'll do the formalities application 4 .2

This for variation of licence from much a brew about nothing of a teenage Street London e1 5

Do we have Christine Roberts with us

Bean is here. And do we have mr. Spotty's would a mr. Spotty's would you say mr. Spotty's would if you'd like to go sit over there

Ms Roberts would like to take the seat.

Thank you, you for being of a very inquisitive nature. I did notice that you were sitting here for the introductions right at the beginning, so you've heard the housekeeping.

We will go through the process and invite you to speak could I remind you to switch the red thing on and off?

and if you wish to contribute only to contribute when I call you wave your hand or jump up and down and I I

Usually I get people very very quickly

So then I would like now to invite Corinne Holland the licencing officer to present the report on this

application or in the floor is

This is an application for a new premises licence for Much Abreu About Nothing, 8 Hennage

Street.

The premises does fall within the Brick Lane Community of Impact Zone.

The applicant has described the premises as a community -focused café and social enterprise.

The café would like to host occasional pre -booked community and creative events, including the

comedy nights, open mic sessions, book clubs and quiz nights

to support community engagement and social enterprise objectives.

A copy of the application is in Appendix 1 on page 218 to 235.

The hours and licenceable activities that have been applied for

are the sale of alcohol on sales only, Monday to Friday

4pm to 10pm, Saturday 12pm to 10pm, Sunday 12pm to 8pm and the opening hours earlier 8am

10 o 'clock but the closing time is the same. This is page 212. Matt showing the

The vicinity are in page appendix 2 on page 237.

There's photographs of the premises in appendix 3 on page 239.

And nearby licenced premises are in appendix 4 on page 244.

There's been one resident objection from Mr. Spottiswood, who's here.

His representation is Appendix 5 on page 246 to 250.

The applicant tried to mediate with Mr. Spottswood and her email and his response are shown in

Appendix 6 on page 252.

And also I must say that there is a supplementary agenda for this application which the applicant

has submitted and that can be seen as part of the bundle.

There's conditions in the operating schedule in page seven, sorry, appendix seven, and

there's also conditions which have been agreed with the police and the noise team in appendix

667 and this is on page

256 that's a report. Thank you chair

Thank you very much to any two other members have questions to Corinne because I've got one

Victoria no, thank you. I'm Corinne it this does this go against the

CI said

It is in this it is in the CI said yes as they break the conditions of the CI said

It is probably more of a legal question rather than one for the licencing officer.

The CIZ gives examples of what might be acceptable exceptions to the CIZ.

It doesn't purport to be an exhaustive list that if you fall within this you are an exception and if you don't you are not.

anything that falls that could be an exception could still be deemed by the committee to not benefit from it for one reason or another.

So strictly speaking, this is on the face of it, it's not an alcohol -led, it's within framework.

I assume, although you will probably need to cheque more with Miss Roberts in relation to capacity,

but I suspect it's probably relatively modest in terms of capacity and certainly could be an exception,

whether it ultimately is will of course be a matter for you and your colleagues.

But we've had no advice from anybody that it is contravening the CIS where often we

get a report saying this goes against the CIS.

I was looking at numbers, framework hours, etc., etc.

So we will get to that.

Thank you very much.

The next stage which will be, I'm going to invite the applicant to have five minutes

to present the case for the application.

And that will be Christine Roberts.

Thank you.

You have five minutes and I will talk.

Hello.

Thank you very much for hearing me today.

I'm Christina Roberts.

I'm the Director of TCW Trading which runs Much Abrew About Nothing Coffee Shop.

I'm also the CEO of the charity The Complete Works and the reason the cafe was set up was

in order to support the school that we run which is an alternative provision and we want

our young people to be able to come and have real life experience of work experience and

be able to do their hospitality, BTECs in a nurturing environment and that's the reason

that we've opened this cafe and coffee sales alone are not going to be able to

sustain it financially so we are looking at any other aspects of revenue that we

could bring in to support this so that we're able to keep it running and events

and hosting events in the evenings maybe to bring in a little bit more revenue is

going to be helpful. But as well as that, we also, the charity is run by trustees and

one of their distinctions in us opening this cafe is that we are community led and that

we run events for community. We're a not -for -profit organisation so we're not looking to raise

any money to make a profit, it's purely to run the cafe. I understand the concerns that

raised by the resident. Hennage Street has residents living very close to another licenced

premises. I appreciate his concerns about noise and people congregating outside and

of course the community of impact of another premises licence. What I hope to reassure

the committee is that Muchabrew is very different from a bar. We are first and foremost a daytime

cafe, a social enterprise. The licence would complement that daytime use by allowing small

scale community and creative events to take place there. The alcohol is ancillary to the

primary cafe and community social enterprise use. It is not the main purpose of the premises.

We've held a number of licenseable events lawfully under the temporary event notices

and these have included a Christmas charity fundraiser, a Palentines event, some comedy

evenings and some open mic nights. Our events have been to about 30 people. We do have capacity

to leave fire restrictions and everything for 60, but we've only had about 30 people

attend. But we've taken the concerns seriously. We've worked constructively with the police.

We've agreed the conditions and also the environmental health. We've also put in some conditions

and we've agreed and there's now no objections.

I do recognise the concern about people congregating outside

and I think it is a narrow street and I think that is the concern.

As I said, there are not many people going to attend

but we will also work to make sure that they are not outside for very long.

Maybe just to get a breath of fresh air or a brief smoking break

but it's not going to have outside drinking available.

I recognise that we're within the community of impact area.

We're not seeking to create another late night drinking venue.

There will be no outside drinking past 9 .30.

I mean there's not going to be any outside drinking anyway,

so that's not a problem, but we will be closed by 10 o 'clock.

And that's it. That's our pitch. Thank you.

That's very good three minutes 48 seconds, but um now we now turn to mr.

Spotty's would you have five minutes when you've got 45 up to you?

Thank you, thank you very much. I should say at the outset that I actually support

them as an organisation

Quite ironically I worked in Shakespeare all my life

So a much approved about nothing down down the road my friends quite things quite funny

I have two objections really. One is that it's not the right street for this.

And secondly, I find there are inconsistencies and contradictions in their application.

Not the right street. I've been living there for 15 years. I am street side, my windows are but onto the street.

I'm immediately opposite the pride of Spitalfields, which is an incredibly successful, extremely busy pub.

And residents on my side, we've come to arrangements with the Pride, that they will hire security staff to try and keep the drinkers on the north side of the street.

I think it's such a narrow street, I live on the south, much of Peru is on the south, but this pub is on the north.

Thursday is for every day of the week you'll have people gathering and milling and filling the street

and there's a health and safety issue there just on that pub alone

but with the help of the stewards we keep the drinkers on the other side

One of the things I'm nervous about is if the Matcha Brew have drinkers coming out onto the street

then the drinkers of the Pride say, oh, they're over, we can cross the street as well.

It's going to be very, very difficult to marshal them to stay on the north side of the street.

I think we're cruising for a bruising in terms of fatal car accidents or...

Anyway, so there's that issue.

But the inconsistencies and the contradictions, we just heard one again, because she talked about 9 .30 but they won't be drinking outside anyway.

We've read in the reports that there won't be vertical drinking, but in everything they've promoted it's come to the bar early and have a drink.

They've said that the food, alcohol is ancillary to food, but it isn't presented like that in any of their reports.

I'm really nervous that this in a sense just becomes another bar on a very narrow street that is mainly residential.

I don't know how you can marshal occasional, presumably once you have a licence you have a licence,

you don't give a licence for two or three days.

So inevitably, especially if we're hearing that it isn't sustainable financially at the moment,

there's going to be a move not only to have drinking seven nights a week,

until ten o 'clock, events every night of the week,

but there'll also be coming back for extensions beyond ten o 'clock.

That's another worry I have.

So it just feels the wrong fit for that type of street,

with the existing pride of Spitalfields pub,

that is such a major business and causing a lot of disruption and noise already.

So that's my... that's why I'm nervous. Love it as a cafe. Long may it continue as a cafe.

But up until 10 o 'clock with drinkers coming out and vapers and smokers coming out onto the street

and causing even more traffic mayhem. I'm not a wheelchair user but it will now be impossible to go

either side of the street with your wheelchair, because both will be blocked.

That's a real concern for me.

So, I'm going to applaud the initiative.

I really do, but I suppose I'm being a bit nimby, aren't I?

Not in my street, but there we are.

I can't support it. I just think it's going to be detrimental to the well -being,

the health, not only residents, but potential drinkers on that street.

Sorry, thank you.

We now move to questions. I'll start the questions. My first one is to the applicant.

On page 256 of our bundle are a series of conditions. Have you agreed those?

Yes.

If I read condition 11, alcohol shall only be sold ancillary to the primary use of the premises as a café and community social enterprise venue.

The premises shall not operate as a virtual drinking vertical drinking establishment

Events proposed the premises will remain seated low intensively and appropriately managed community events rather than drinking led events

So that's a condition that they have agreed with the council. So were we to be mindful of granting the licence

Thank you for that. I haven't seen that appendix. I also would love to know what a CI said is but maybe that's after the meeting

but

I'm just concerned that in all the publicity material for the events that they have had to date

they have said come to the bar and have a drink. It's quite clearly a drinking bar

and not a drink and celery to food. That's what my concern is, that the evidence thus far

if it can be marshalled and one can be assured that they will only be sitting

and they will not take drinks out onto the street, I'll be far more amenable to it.

I don't know how you quite marshal that, that's all.

Well, you've heard the condition I've read out, they've accepted the condition, and were

we to grant, they accepted the condition, conditional upon us granting, were we to grant

that condition will be added to the licence.

Mr Melnick.

Sorry to come in, I was going to wait until the questions, but since you've already started

on the conditions, it might be helpful if I just deal, because some of them, as I've

the preemie are a little vague and potentially difficult

and one of the things is you grant the application,

you want it to know, no doubt Mr. Sposnadu would want to know,

and of course Ms. Roberts, precisely what they can

or can't do in terms of the licence and what they breach.

In terms of the first condition that's volunteered

at page 256, which I think is where effectively

that agreed condition 11 comes from,

I mean it's ultimately very, very woolly, for example,

and certainly condition 11 is not really clear events proposed at the premises will remain seated at low intensity.

Certainly one can condition personal drinking but how, I don't know what's meant to be low intensity

and if I'm going to be prosecuting this as part of the council's important functions, I would be struggling.

So that will need to be amended suitably but that will need a little bit of time to think about.

There is certainly a little bit of confusion in terms of the external drinking.

The proposed condition in the operating schedule is no external drinking after 2100s.

The police condition, which is very slightly different and is certainly unclear, is a condition 5, page 257.

There should be no sales of alcohol for consumption off the premises.

It would be very useful, Miss Roberts, if you can clarify at this point, is there an external area or would the drinking be out on the street?

There is no intention for any outdoor drinking to take place.

I think I was just concerned that there may be one or two people who take their drink outside

and I just didn't want to get into any trouble if it was a break or an interval or something that they took outside.

But there is no external place for drinking.

If that's the case then chair my advice would be that if the application is granted you simply impose a condition as well as condition 5.

No drinks and open containers shall be permitted to be taken outside of the premises.

That deals with the possible risk of smokers moving outside or taking their drinks outside, hanging around and potentially intermingling with the people on the other side of the street.

which hopefully addresses to some extent Mr. Spottedwood's concern.

Proposed Condition 3 and 4, Condition 4 is really, really vague,

and again it's really important.

No adult entertainment or age restricted activities will take place at the premises,

but it's not really clear what could in fact be meant by them,

and strictly speaking the licencing authority is concerned with

licenced activity, regulated entertainment,

in this case only the sale of alcohol.

So what I would perhaps suggest to the committee,

and again it would be useful to get some input from Miss Roberts

on an appropriate age, is that condition three is sufficient

and members just simply have an age condition.

I don't know, I'd noticed obviously Miss Roberts mentioning earlier

that there's part of the idea is to have children working

as part of work experience.

I don't know what an appropriate age would be,

but you can condition it by way of age and times

After a set time for example at 8 o 'clock in the evening perhaps no one under 16 unless are accompanied by an adult something like that

Those are the only issues I had on the conditions

Where's the thing about no adult in entertainment?

It's a proposed condition for and then these are the agreed ones. These are ones proposed in the operating schedule. I

than you might think it does.

Sorry, I'm not quite sure, what's the question there?

Sorry, we're not planning pole dancing are you?

Absolutely not planning pole dancing.

I think I said no adult entertainment to make sure that nobody was a pole dancer.

It needs to be rephrased.

I think the easiest thing is that the committee can impose a condition

that just simply restricts children under a certain age

from being unaccompanied in the premises

probably after a particular time.

So it might be no children under the age of 16

to be in the premises unaccompanied

after eight o 'clock at night, something like that.

Again, it might be helpful

if you can give us a bit of a steer on that

because you know what sort of events you're planning.

And if that's going to interfere with any particular events,

whether it's the timing or the age,

then we can perhaps, that's something to discuss.

Yes, so to clarify the work experience is only happening during the day, so the young people will have left by 4 o 'clock anyway.

I suppose there could be a quiz night and I suppose the adults may wish to bring their children to the quiz night.

I suppose we wanted to be a family friendly environment if we did have a quiz night.

So I suppose that's why I don't think I've put anything about children but yes.

In law a child is anyone under the age of 18 so you could simply say that there's no unaccompanied children.

If that's going to be easier.

I would avoid the word no adult entertainment.

I don't think I realised that was an issue.

I didn't put it in for anything except to say that there wasn't any.

I'm sorry I've hoped this and I've allowed everybody,

Victoria have you any questions?

I think we're okay for questions aren't we?

I think we're okay for questions.

Mr. Spottis would you have a minute to conclude?

Thank you for tonight. I suppose what pleases me is that there will be no drinking on the pavement.

As I understand it, there will be no drinking at all.

But that needs to be a marshal because that will avoid the conflict with the pub opposite me.

I am concerned about crowds milling around outside our building with smoke coming up into our windows and not being able to open windows in these wretchedly hot months now.

But if we can be assured, if I can, sorry, we, I can be assured that there is going to be no drinking on the street, that would help immensely.

Because no one opposite in the private spittle fields will say well they're drinking why can't I?

You're eating your time because they've accepted a condition of no drinking on the street.

To be honest I'm sort of happy, dare I say in this building.

That to me is so crucial though and if it can be in quotes policed, wrong word, but do what you mean, monitored.

So that does happen, fine.

Applicant, you have one minute to sum up, you may wish to assure us you're not planning pole dancing.

Yes, I'm sorry, I don't know how I've managed that.

So, yes, I'm happy to accept that condition.

and Mr. Spotsuit is right that when we first started,

I did do the publicity and it probably was led into a,

this is a, you know, come and enjoy this wine bar

because I think I was trying to see if it might work

or something.

It didn't particularly, so it's not something

I'm really wed to.

So yes, I'm happy with the things that have been mentioned

here today and have no further things to add.

Well, having now reached the point where one can say we've reached the timing of the brew,

thank you for your contributions today.

We will deliberate in a private session after this meeting, and you will have a notification

from our clerk within five working days of what we have decided, whether we've decided

to agree the application or not to agree what our decision would be, whether it's the majority

or a minority vote, a unanimous or majority vote, sorry I should say, explain to that,

and what the procedure is after it has been granted, which is possibly objecting or looking

to what you do in the future. But you'll have a full detailed advancement of what's going

on. Thank you very much for coming to see us this evening.

Thank you for your time.

I appreciate seeing you both.

I would like to know what your CI said, though, at some point.

Community impact, sorry.

Oh, CI's going to jump.

Okay, thank you.

It's a licencing policy.

It's a huge thing, a licencing policy.

It's a job for me.

Okay, yeah.

If you look up community impact, sorry, I can't hear you.

I will have no idea.

Okay, yeah.

You can go to the three letters.

Right, lovely.

We now move to the application for CTRL alt elite London

limited 116 Jubilee Street e13e be

Do we have mr. Meir and mr. Ahmed here?

That's mr. Meir and mr. Ahmed arrived you're the applicant so if you'd like to sit on the applicant part

Do we have mr. Hunt and mr. Brown?

Yep, if you'd like to be an objector, sit in the objectors, thank you very much.

Both, it's on pages 259 to 300 of our bundle, turning over, not mad.

Thank you very much for seeing the meeting this evening, you've seen how we try and operate the meeting,

which is as friendly as possible in a fashion that we try and do it as a conversation as opposed to some sort of court -like deliberation

although we have to make a quasi -judicial decision at the end of the day. So thank you for coming along.

I'm going to now invite Corinne Holland, who is the lady sitting there, who you've heard twice this evening, to introduce the report.

the floor is yours as I always say. Thank you chair. This is an application for a new

premises licence or as you said it's control ball belly at 116 Jubilee Street. A copy of

the application is enclosed in appendix 1 on page 264. The applicant has described the

the nature of the premises is a games lounge situated at basement level.

Just point out obviously on the plan of the premises which actually is in appendix 2 on

page 277 and it was confirmed by the agent who was acting for the applicant that there

are no toilets, no customer toilets on the venue and the premises so I just

thought I would point that out. They're actually applying for the provision of

late -night refreshment only Monday to Sunday until 1 a .m. so that will be from

11 p .m. to 1 a .m. as that's the only time after 11 o 'clock you need late -night

refreshments and it will be open to the public from 2 in the afternoon to

to one o 'clock in the morning.

The map of the location is shown in Appendix 3 on page 279.

There's been representations from local residents.

These are from Appendix 4 on page 282 to Appendix 9 on page 293.

The general representations involve noise disturbance, parking and people congregating outside.

Appendix 10 shows some conditions which are in the operating schedule and this is on page 296.

And then there's some conditions that have been agreed with the police, environmental health and licencing authority on page 11.

Sorry appendix 11 on page 299. Thank you chair

I have one I am slightly staggered that the fact there is no provision

For a lavatory has seemed to have slipped everybody by

and I'd like to know how that has that, do you know if that was raised in any meetings or anything?

The health and safety officer initially raised it, sent it to the agent and the agent came back saying no there is no customer toilet.

The staff can use the toilet upstairs but there is no customer toilet and I saw that email today.

That's why I thought I would bring it to your attention.

Thank you

So do members have any questions to miss Holland? No, they don't so I'd now like to invite the applicant mr

Ahmed to speak with regard to his application and you have five minutes

Sorry

Thank you chair. My name is mr

I'm the agent representing Control Alt Elite in relation to the application for 116 Jubilee Street.

I would like to explain the application, clarify a few points raised in the objections and outline how the premises will be managed.

The application relates to a supervised computer lounge in the basement.

It seeks permission to serve hot drinks such as tea and coffee between 11pm and 1am.

The proposed closing time is 1am on each day.

There is no application for alcohol sales or regulated entertainment.

The operating schedule also makes clear that no alcohol or gambling will be available within the lounge.

That is worth clarifying because several representations refer to hot food, music and a late night entertainment venue attracting large crowds.

What is described in this application is a supervised space where customers can play computer games, socialise and have a non -alcoholic drink.

The layout of the building is also important. The games lounge occupies the basement of the building and then there's a commercial shop occupying the ground floor and then the residential accommodation starts on the first floor.

There is therefore a whole commercial floor between the lounge and the flats above.

The lounge has its own entrance located well away from the residence entrances of that block.

Customers entering and leaving the lounge use a different access point from residents.

These arrangements provide separation between the activities of the lounge and the residential accommodation.

Now we recognise that they do not eliminate the possibility of noise travelling through the building or disturbance outside,

which is why active management remains important.

A significant point is that the lounge has already been operating for just over a year

with a 1am closing time. The proposed hours therefore reflect the existing operation rather

than an extension of its opening hours. The applicant confirms that before the representations

made on this application the operator had received no complaints about noise or disturbance

from the lounge. Now we're not suggesting that this means residents cannot have concerns,

They have now raised them and we take those concerns seriously.

However, the experience of operating until 1am for more than a year is relevant when considering the likely effect of continuing those hours.

I would also like to address the reference to break -ins in a smoke or alarm incident.

Now we've checked with the applicant directly who confirms that there have been no break -ins

at the Games Lounge and no Smoke Alarm incident originating from it.

Now we cannot confirm whether the representations refer to the ground floor shop or another

part of the building and we would welcome clarification so that any incidents can be

accurately identified.

We do not wish to dismiss residents' experiences but I think it's important to establish whether

they relate to the lounge. Turning to the management arrangements, the operating schedule

provides for staff supervision throughout the opening hours, CCTV recording and an incident

log. Anyone appearing drunk or under the influence of illegal substances will be refused entry.

The application describes a secured entrance and managing admission will form part of the

On noise, the operating schedule includes a commitment to prevent unreasonable disturbance from activity within the lounge,

ventilation equipment and any other machinery that may be in use.

Customers will be asked not to gather outside and to leave the area quietly.

Notices will remind them that people live nearby and we recognise that notices sometimes alone are not enough

and that staff need to take an active role in managing behaviour and departure.

Their stated closing time is 1am and the operation needs to be managed so that customers leave by that time.

On public safety escape routes must remain clear and exit doors must be capable of being opened without a key or card.

The schedule also commits to maintaining equipment and installation safely and keeping relevant safety certificates and inspection records available on site.

Now the key one is the protection of children. This is addressed through specific age restrictions.

Under 16s will not be permitted after 9pm. Those aged 16 or 17 will not be permitted after 10pm

unless accompanied by a responsible adult.

I think my five minutes are over, so I'm happy to answer any further questions.

Thank you very much. We now move to the objectors before we turn into questions.

Sorry Mr. Melnick.

Would you mind asking them to introduce themselves?

I thought we did. As I called their names they wave.

I don't know who's who.

Mr. Melnick, Mr. Hunt, would you like to wave at us?

That's Mr Hunt.

And by process of elimination, I think the other gentleman is Mr Brown.

I think we've worked that one out.

Okay, I won't need the full five minutes.

So good evening and thank you for hearing our side of the storey.

So I'm representing a few other people that couldn't be here today.

As the gentleman described, we are part of residents that are all within a one contained

building, so there is no separation.

We are all in one space.

To make it clear, we are not opposing the business being run during normal hours.

However, we do ask to refuse the late night permission and regulated entertainment past

11 o 'clock.

Granting this licence beyond 11 o 'clock will breach, in our opinion, which we've already

listed some examples of public nuisance, public safety, and prevention of crime and disorder.

First in terms of public nuisance, as I said before, 116 is a residential building with

flats directly above.

The sound installation, even though it is a new build, is not great.

We hear sounds not only between the units, but clearly from the operation of the commercial

unit and the gaming facility below.

If the shop is permitted to serve late night entertainment into the early hours, it is

of course evident that the sound will transmit up to the other flats.

Several residents, including myself, head teacher, wake up at 5am, which would significantly disrupt my sleep pattern during the week.

It would be impossible to separate those two, especially with my windows directly above the entrance and exit of the gaming unit.

Adding late football, potentially delivery of these hot drinks, patrons gathering on the pavement outside,

so other than asking within the building for the patrons to leave and not consolidate,

who will be actually policing those individuals from being outside.

And when you look around the whole area, it is completely a residential area,

so there aren't any commercial shops anywhere close.

So it is bringing potentially a large volume of people in a very, very quiet residential area

which we purchased actually on the proviso that is actually supposed to be a yoga studio.

Second in terms of public safety, so the physical layout...

Apologies, I'm going to have to stop you there because your representation which is on 286

is purely about the noise disturbance.

So unfortunately you're only able to talk to your representation.

You can certainly expand on the noise issues if you have anything, but what you can't do

is start adding in other licencing objectives that you haven't addressed in your...

Okay, even though the participants couldn't be here and I'm representing...

Have we had anything to say?

For example, what, Ling couldn't be in attendance, so she did ask me to speak on her behalf?

I think the difficulty is that of course we've not been...

The expectation is that if residents are going to speak on behalf of the other residents

of Maybrook, that's absolutely fine, but they need to tell us in advance.

Obviously all of the representations are in the pack and they will be read and taken into

account in any event.

I can say, having read it, Dr. Brown's rather, his representation is certainly very, very

full anyway, so there's going to be a lot of those that are going to be discussed.

It's not as if those issues will be ignored, but as I said, simply that you just need to

on your representation and the noise issues because that's what you're the

public nuisance that's what you're okay no worries so I guess if you have any

further questions I'll be able to address the other issues that have

written down

thank you my name is Matthew Brown and I'm a doctor that works at the Royal

London Hospital and I'm actually situated in the flat immediately above

the entrance to the premises 116 Jubilee Street somewhat to Chris I want to say

that I'm not sorry apologies and similar to Chris I want to say that I don't

object to the existence of the building of their business sorry my objection is

specifically to late night refreshments seven days a week until 1 a .m. which is

clearly unsociable hours and I think I just want to clarify a few points about

the physical configuration of the building so this isn't a detached

commercial premise or unit which is separate from the rest of the

residential building. It's actually physically incorporated into the building itself with

eight flats immediately above it and my flat directly above the entrance. I also want to

add that the concern regarding noise is not hypothetical. So the proposers were incorrect

to suggest there have been no complaints about noise. In May, before this licencing process,

I actually contacted the operator directly because of the basement entrance door noise.

Every time this door is open and closed it makes an extremely loud noise and it actually causes vibration throughout the flat.

By extending the licence to include hot food and beverage, the footfall would be expected to increase and this noise increased as well.

Just a little bit of history about why the door is such a big issue is because this initially when planning permission was granted,

this was supposed to be the commercial bin store and it was therefore a heavy duty door used for bin storage.

but it's now being used to add an additional premise as opposed to what the initial use was.

The bin has actually since been placed outside the building and is causing actual issues with hygiene and rat infestation as well.

I'm aware that's not what the committee is here to discuss at the moment, but I just think it's an illustrative point to show how integrated this premise actually is with the whole building.

So my concern is therefore what is going to happen if we allow this additional activity to continue until 1 in the morning

and the wider activity associated with the late night business.

That includes customers arriving and leaving, includes conversations and congregations outside the premises of which there have already been issues,

potentially delivery drivers arriving and waiting, scooters and vehicles, bicycles

and most concerning for me is the repeated use of the entrance door

and the vibration and noise that causes for the flat itself.

I also just want to highlight this important distinction between licenced activity finishing at 1am

and when the noise disturbance actually ends.

So even currently, although they say the premise can be open late in the evening,

The noise goes on significantly after that based on the fact that they need to clean up and lock the premises as well.

I just want to quickly note the framework. I want the committee to consider their own framework hours.

I understand 1am every day goes significantly beyond those framework hours every single day of the week, particularly back on a Sunday.

and I think it raises an important question which is what is it about the individual circumstances

of this premise that justifies extending its operation significantly beyond those framework

hours.

In my view, as I've laid out, the actual particulars of this premise point in the opposite direction

and that requires more restrictive hours potentially than those laid out by the framework.

I've already made the point regarding waste but just final point that I would make which

news to me today is that the premise doesn't have a toilet present in it and

that obviously raises concerns about where customers would be able to go to

the toilet, particularly if they've travelled to the premise from elsewhere and the

obvious concerns that that would create. So I'd asked the committee not

to grant the licence and if they were minded to grant the licence put in

significant constraints with regards to noise, customer

or dispersal waste congregation use of the entrance.

Thank you.

You finished in time.

I'll kick off the questions.

I'm going to ask questions to both sides.

Firstly, to the applicant.

On page 291, we have an objection from a resident

who refers that this is a basement activity

and off -licence.

Do you have any idea what that means?

Are you running an off -licence then?

I think there might be a bit of misunderstanding with the layout of the unit.

Our activity is just the basement games lounge.

There is an off -licence on the first floor, sorry, on the ground floor,

which is an established E -class unit, but this has nothing to do with our games lounge.

You heard me raise it earlier on, officers have drawn our attention to it today, I find

it extraordinary that there is an application before us that concerns people to socialise,

obviously even if it's soft drinks they'll be having drinks but there are no toilet facilities.

When I conclude I will invite you to speak.

We have no toilet facilities shown anywhere.

Could you please explain what you do other than the fact that presumably you attract

people with cast iron bladders?

Thank you for raising that with us, chair.

I think the area is on our part on that one.

I have just spoken to the applicant and we made the mistake.

He's just confirmed that there is a toilet available for staff and for patrons to the

facility.

I'm not sure what the procedure is, but if we're allowed to update the plans, we're more

than happy to update the plans and issue them to the licencing officer.

But the error is on our part.

I've just been, the applicant has just confirmed that there is toilet available for both patrons

and for staff.

Where is this toilet on the plan?

I'm looking at the plans on page 277.

We've not shown on the plans because of our own misunderstanding we assumed that there

was no toilet there but the toilet is on the first floor, sorry on the ground floor.

How many people do you have in the premises on any given evening?

From my understanding and having visited the premises there's one, two, three, four, I

separate rooms. Is it okay for the applicant to speak directly, chair?

Would you like to tell us how many people you anticipate being on the premises?

We've got five rooms in there. Can you let me finish, please?

Oh, sorry. Will you turn the thing off? Thank you. You've

seen me all evening. We try and run this thing properly. I understand that you are obviously

Obviously you have a real interest, but please don't jump in and please don't try and talk people down.

I'm asking you a question. Will you now please tell me how many people you have on the premises on any given evening?

Up to 20, 30 people sometimes.

Are they all male? Or could you turn that off?

Are they all male or is it a mix of male and female?

Mostly it smells, but we have had some females come in,

their girlfriends, but most of the time it smells.

Please don't bang it like that, it doesn't really make a good impression.

I understand that you're frustrated.

My concern is you're saying there is just one toilet facility

available to staff and these number of people at any given point and yet you serve, there

is refreshment available there, albeit non -alcoholic.

Chair, can I please answer this on behalf of the applicant. So there might be 20 or

30 people at any given time but given the nature of the lounge and the nature of the

activities there, they're not there for any more than I would say a couple of hours. It's

gaming lounge you know they come in there's PlayStation set up there's

Xbox is set up and they rent the space by the hour so usually they're there for

only a couple of hours no more than that also as it is the premises just sell is

able to sell cold drinks up until 1 a .m. the closing time and it's been operating

absolutely fine from based on what the objectives have said yes they might have

some concerns regarding the door noise opening and closing, but I've just been advised by

the applicant that he's rectified it. I've not verified that myself, but he says he's

been rectified it. But the facility has been running for a year now and there's been no

issues regarding urinating outside or anything like that. Serving hot drinks doesn't suddenly

make people want to go more than they would if they were drinking cold drinks.

So the fact that it's been running for a year without any issues with one toilet being sufficient

I think should be given some weight in your determination of the licencing application.

My final question is directed to the objectors. On pages 296 to 300, the total number of people

on our bundle is a fairly hefty whack of four pages of conditions, partly offered up by

the applicant and then partly agreed with the environmental health licencing and police.

Have you seen these conditions?

So we've just had sight of them right now.

I think our initial issue is none of them are proactive, so it's all reactive after

an incident happens.

it's about how we report, how we look at CCTV, but it's not proactive.

Thank you. Sorry to have hogged it.

Victoria, do you have questions? Thank you.

I have a couple of questions for the applicant.

One is just to understand it is quite significantly outside of framework hours,

which I think are until 11 .30 in the week, and then midnight, and then 10 .30 on Sunday.

I understand that you've been already running the premises for the last year.

Is there a lot of demand in the earlier on in the week?

Is there a real need between Monday and Thursday for it to be going until 1am?

Or is the weekend the highest traffic moment?

Thank you for the question. The premises already operates until 1am.

We're simply seeking the late night refreshments or hot drinks until 1am.

So we're not looking to extend the opening hours, it's just simply allowing for the provision of hot drinks to be sold until 1am.

But that period, that late night period, does there tend to be a lot of demand and a lot of footfall very late at night in the week?

Or is it roughly the same every night of the week or is it busier on weekends?

Naturally with these kind of facilities we tend to see a more uptick during the weekends rather than the weekdays

but as a gaming lounge, nowadays gaming is not just for the younger people

there's a lot of middle -aged adults who participate in gaming and sometimes those people

by the time they've come from work, they've done their commitments, they just need somewhere to go

and engage in the activity.

So there is a demand for it until 1 a .m.

If there wasn't a demand, then there would be no need

for us to be here.

But because there is a demand, the facility does stay open

until 1 a .m. as of now, and we're just simply trying

to provide that refreshment service until that time.

I guess I'm wondering, I don't want to preempt

any discussion we might have later,

but I'm wondering were we to discuss licencing

sale of refreshments until framework hours, would that make a big difference to the business?

Based on the discussions I've had with the applicant, yes it would. It would make the business a lot more viable.

And then, can I ask another question? The other question I have was regarding the bins being moved,

and because I agree that that is a kind of direct conflict with the residential nature of the building.

Do you have a response to that? Do you know the incident? Is there a way to stop that in future?

So obviously we were involved in the original design of the building.

We took on the licencing application. Just prior to the licencing application,

we did make a planning application to the planning department for the installation of

signage and as part of that application it showed the layout of the building, well the

layout of the basement and the ground floor and the planning department saw the layout,

they saw the proposal and they were happy with it and they approved the signage. Now

I know the signage wasn't talking specifically about bin storage but the plans clearly showed

the layout, the entrance to the lounge was through that access point. I didn't look into

the history of the planning. I'm not sure what was approved there, whether there was

subsequently another variation of condition application to remove that. But from my visit

to that premises, and our office is quite close to the premises and I've been there

a number of times, I have not seen bins being stored outside. From what I've seen and what

I've been told, there is a bin store that eats up a little bit of space of the commercial

unit on the ground floor. So there is space for bins from what I could see. There is space

from bins. So that entrance being used for the games lounge has not taken away from the

bin storage for that building.

Thank you. And then the final question is just regarding this toilet. We were hearing

from the objectors about footfall in the staircase and actually that the part of

the biggest issue is around the hallways it sounds like and people congregating

right outside. If the toilet is upstairs and the gaming lounge is downstairs that

sounds like there's gonna be a lot of footfall of people going up and down and

a lot of noise associated with that. Could you take us through the

layout of the building? Where is the toilet? Is it next to the you know do you

have to walk through the off licence in order to get to the toilet? Yeah what's

the distance.

Okay, so I think there's a little bit of confusion about the layout of the building and I think

one of the comments raised by the objectors I think kind of confused between the basement

and the shop unit. They are two completely separate units, one by two completely separate

entities. So the access to the gaming lounge is from Jubilee Street, so there's an access

next to the shop unit, you walk through that, it's a metal door. Just on a side point, the issue with the noise of the metal door, whether it's being used as a gaming lounge or whether it was used as a bin storage, I think there would be some issues with the metal door banging, opening, closing, and I think that's something that the applicant can work on to kind of maybe put some sound insulation or put some noise dampeners around the door.

But you walk in through the door and then there's a small hallway that leads directly to the stairs to the basement.

And the basement is open so there's a buffer between the lounge and then the residence above them which is the commercial unit on the ground floor.

And then to access the WC it's on the ground floor as well.

So, but through the, sorry to get so in the weeds,

but it's through the, is it a standalone toilet

that you go through the entrance to the street

and then you immediately get to the toilet

or do you go through the shop to get there?

No, no, no.

Can I explain this one?

Is that okay for the applicant?

Yes.

You open the door, the door he's saying

just makes the noise, you open the door,

as soon as you go in, the toilet's on the right.

The stairs downstairs to the reception area.

We've got four games room, one podcasting room and that's about it.

On that note, if I could just quickly also add, one of the rooms I think you said is a podcasting room.

So as a podcasting room it needs to be very well insulated, noise insulated.

This is the point when members are asking questions we shouldn't really be drifting into questions that haven't in fact been asked.

So we've got the answer then.

Trying to return to this issue of the toilet you said a moment ago there are three separate

Entities and now we are told that you go in and there is a toilet. Well, I'm looking at the floor plan page on

277 I can see no indication of where the toilet might be you go through

According to this you go through the entrance and straight down the stairs

Just two seconds, I'm just going to pull up the plans

If you look at the folder in front of you and turn to page 277 you'll see it right what

I'm looking at which might help you. Yes I can see and I think that's an error on our

part. The applicant has just pointed out that there is in fact a toilet there but we've

left that out on our plans. So that's an error on our part.

Where we've marked the entrance, you walk down that corridor and then just before you get to the stairs on the right hand side.

Probably worth bearing in mind, Chair, that one of the key points of the licencing plan is to know where the licence of activities is taking place.

One of the things I was going to come onto is query why the ground floor plan is actually on the plan

if the sale or the provision of late night refreshment is presumably all taking place downstairs.

So it may well be that the toilet wouldn't necessarily be on there if there's no licenced activity taking place in there.

Hold on, we have a community issue here and public urination is a massive issue.

I think that we can actually discuss where the lavatory is. I'm sorry

Any further questions colleagues

Are you planning on carrying on licenceable activity on that ground floor?

Sorry, I don't understand the question.

You've applied to provide late night refreshment and one of the requirements of the premises licence

is that you have a plan detailing on the red line

where the licenceable activity is taking place.

As far as the basement is concerned, that's absolutely fine.

We've got the basement plan on 277

and we've got the red line all around it.

That's where those licenceable activities are taking place, on the ground floor.

But from what I can see in relation to the ground floor,

what you've got is the entrance, the hallway,

leads down to the stairs, which then leads to the basement.

So presumably you're not in fact carrying on licenceable activity,

i .e. the provision of late night refreshment in the ground floor.

Is that correct?

That is correct, yes.

In this case at some point an amended plan would need, if the application is granted a plan, an amended plan would need to be filed.

We really do need to see exactly what's going on.

Were we mindful of granting the application?

Okay, any further questions from members?

No?

I now move to concluding remarks, which is one minute from each objection.

Do we, yep, we start? Okay. Again, thank you very much. It was really helpful hearing from both sides.

Again, I wouldn't want to move away from the toilets. I was one of the first residents that moved into that apartment block

and the owners let me store all of my stuff before I could actually move into my apartment flat at the time.

There was not a toilet in that building block, so it would be interesting to see,

and I guess you would be able to see the planning permission to put in a toilet if there is one on that area,

or if it actually is shared with the ground floor flat.

Again, we are really, really concerned with how many patrons that would bring to a very

quiet community area.

It's all residential.

And again, this idea of, I believe it was registered as late night food and drinks,

which would actually give the ability to do both, which could then bring extra foot traffic

through drivers, through people wanting to just grab a meal and then leave.

and again all this gathering people.

Thank you.

Dr. Brown.

Thank you.

Just to go on a different point, just with regarding potential imposition of conditions,

my main concern is regarding, to be frank, some of the misrepresentation we've already

heard today regarding the issues we've had previously.

So the claim that was no noise issue, the claim that it didn't used to be a commercial

bin store stated the plan submitted that showed there wasn't a toilet on the

ground floor and now they claim that there is a toilet on the ground floor. I would

have serious concerns about having any confidence in the applicants and the

representatives adhering to any conditions which are placed on the

premise because in their application today they don't seem to be across the

detail of what they're actually asking for.

Thank you, Dr. Brown. We now move on to the applicant.

Thank you, Chair and members of the committee. From what we've heard from the objectors today,

it seems like there is some misunderstanding within the mind about where we're operating

and where the off -licence is operating. And I think a number of their objections are based

on the off -licence and the break -ins or the smoke alarm issues with the off -licence.

From our side, the premises have already been operating until 1am for over a year and we've

had no complaints reported to the operator. We ask that this experience is given proper

weight when considering the application. The lounge is in the basement with a commercial

between it and the residential accommodation above.

Its entrance is also positioned away from residents' entrances.

For clarity, there will be no break -ins or smoke alarm incidents at the premises

and the applicant is committed to managing management and upholding the licencing objectives.

Thank you.

That was quite something.

Thank you for your contributions today.

I said on two previous occasions evening

I repeat the committee will deliberate in a closed private session after this meeting you'll receive a notification in writing from democratic

services who will tell you of our

Decision within five working days and it will tell you what steps you may wish to do in light of our decision

It will also inform you whether the decision was unanimous or by a majority vote

and you can look at that and see where we go. Thank you for your contributions on all sides and we will take everything we've heard in consideration as well of what we've had in writing before us and what we heard from Ms Holland and council officers.

So that concludes the hearing. I'm now going to invite the Democratic Service, I believe you're required to know, do you have any application decision deadlines which have been extended up to the 30th of November?

Yes chair, so we've got applications at Vagabond 12 Park Drive London E14 9 ZW, Charles Hallau

Food at 106 Brick Lane, Victoria Wharf Studio 10 Stour Road Hackney Wick E32 US, McDonalds

to drag away e14 5sp six Horner Square e16 ew Morley's at 60 to 62 Brick Lane e16 rf

the lockdown room at 50 Hope Wells Square e14 osy and idle moments at 86 Columbia Road

e27 qb thank you that formally concludes the business of the meeting thank you for your

And our next meeting will take place on Thursday the 17th of September at 6 30 p .m.

For the applications we have on that evening. So thank you very much for coming along

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Licensing Sub CommitteeThursday, 3rd September 2026 at 6:30pm

Licensing Sub Committee
Thursday, 3rd September 2026 at 6:30pm