Town councillors have this week objected against plans by a Burnham-On-Sea town centre bar to extend its weekend opening hours until 1.30am.
The Boss Lounge in Burnham’s Chapel Street is seeking permission to vary its premises licence in order to open on Fridays and Saturdays between 10am and 1.30am.
It has also applied to sell alcohol every New Year’s Eve until 2.30am, Boxing Day until midnight, and Bank Holidays until 1am.
The owners of The Boss Lounge have submitted a licensing application to cover the proposed changes, which was considered this week by town councillors.
Following concerns raised by councillors and nearby residents during the consultation regarding potential late night noise, the bar has agreed to extra conditions.
One key condition is that any music played after midnight on Fridays and Saturdays and on New Year’s Eve “shall be inaudible outside the premises.”
However, at a meeting on Monday (February 27th), pictured above, town councillors remained concerned about late night noise and unanimously objected against the plans.
Cllr Barbara Vickers said: “There are a lot of residents that live around that area of the town centre. I objected last time and I will object again because of the location.”
Cllr James Warren and Cllr Peter Clayton agreed, noting that there are many residents living nearby. Cllr Clayton added that the music is currently often audible outside to passers-by and to some residents.
Town councillors voted “to uphold the objection due to prevention of public nuisance – there are residents living nearby and noise late at night is unfair to residents.”
A final decision on the application rests with Sedgemoor District Council – or the new Somerset Council after April 1st.
The Boss Lounge has agreed to several conditions with Police and Environmental Health to try and address the concerns:
• Any music played between the hours of midnight on Fridays and Saturdays until 01:30 and on New Year’s Eve until midnight shall be inaudible outside the premises.
• A written noise management plan to be implemented to control noise, which shall include but not be limited to, monitoring of the noise levels outside the premises regularly and particularly after midnight to ensure people and music noise is reasonable, responding to valid complaints promptly.
• Implementation of a dispersal policy to ensure patrons do not linger after exiting the premises.
• Condition 5 to be amended to “no person under the age of 18yrs is permitted on the premises unless attending a private event when the premises is closed to the public & where they must be supervised by an adult at all times”.
• The premises must install and maintain a comprehensive surveillance system to ICO guidelines. The system must be maintained in full working order and record at all times when the premises is open for licensable activities. The correct time & date must be generated on all recordings which must be retained for a minimum period of 31 days. Recorded images must be of evidential quality. Copies must be made available on request, to the police or authorised officer of the licensing authority. If the system is inoperative or faulty for any reason, steps must be taken to repair or replace the equipment within 24 hours. A Data Controller who is conversant with the operation of the system must be available at all times when the premises is open to the public and be able to provide police or authorised officer of the licensing authority recent data or footage with the absolute minimum of delay when requested. Management, storage, giving and sharing of data recordings must comply with the general data protection regulations at all times.
• The premises must operate a “Challenge 25 policy”, whereby anyone wishing to purchase alcohol that appears to be under the age of 25 years, must be asked to provide photographic identification eg. Passport, driving licence, PASS card. Challenge 25 posters must be displayed.
• A written drugs & crime prevention policy must be put in place. Full co-operation will be given to any drugs initiatives undertaken by the Police & licensing authority. A copy must be made available upon request to Police or authorised officer of the Licensing Authority. The licence holder must operate a ‘zero tolerance’ policy in relation to drugs at the premises and all staff must receive training with regards to this policy. Drugs seized by staff must be securely stored, until they can delivered to or be collected by the Police.
• All employees involved in the sale of alcohol who do not hold a personal licence, must receive training on commencement of employment, with regards to preventing the sale of alcohol to persons who are under the required age and proxy sales. This training must also include refusals to persons who are intoxicated, challenge 25 and the licensing objectives. This training must be documented and signed for by employees to acknowledge that they have received this training. All employees must receive refresher training every six months. Records must be made available for inspection by the Police & Licensing Authority.
• An incident & refusals register must be kept and used on the premises, and must record all instances where the sale of alcohol and proxy sales to a patron is refused and all incidents occurring on the premises. This must also include refusals to persons who are intoxicated. Records must be kept for a minimum of 12 months and must be made available request to the Local Authority, Police and Trading Standards Officers upon request. Records must be audited on a regular basis by the Premises Licence Holder.
• All exit routes and public areas must be kept unobstructed, have non-slippery and even surfaces, and must be free of trip hazards. Exit routes must be clearly signed.
• Empty drinking vessels & bottles must be removed from public areas quickly and efficiently.
• An adequate and appropriate supply of first aid equipment and materials must be available on the premises.
• No waste or recyclable materials, including bottles, may be moved, removed or placed in outside areas between 1900hrs and 0700hrs. No deliveries to the premises will be arranged during these times.
• There must be a written noise management plan in place to ensure that the potential for noise nuisance is controlled.
