Details of person making representation

Name of Chief Officer of Police

Chief Inspector Gary WOODWARD

Postal Address:

(Area Headquarters)

Maidstone Police Station

Palace Avenue

Maidstone

ME15 6NF

E-mail address

11187@kent.police.uk

Telephone Number:

Details of premises representation is about

Name of Premises:

TAP 17

Address of premises:

High Street,

Headcorn,

Kent,

TN27 9NH

Date application received by police

02/03/2021

Date representation sent to Licensing Authority

11/03/2021

Must be within 28 days of receipt –

The Licensing Act 2003 (Premises Licences and Club Premises Certificates) Regulations 2005. Part 4 Reg. 22.

The Chief Officer of Police has received an application for the grant of a premises licence made under the provisions of Section 17 Licensing Act 2003, and under Section 18 of that Act, asks the Licensing Authority to consider these representations in respect of: -

Please tick one or more of the licensing objectives that the representation relates to:

Prevention of crime and disorder

X

Public Safety

X

Prevention of public nuisance

X

Protection of children from harm

X

If yes, complete the following statement: -

The relevant representation within the meaning of S.18(6) of the Licensing Act satisfy the requirements of S.18(9) of that Act and are as follows

Please use separate sheets where necessary

Please give the reason for the representation and detail the evidence supporting it:

Kent Police make these representations in respect of a new licence application for “TAP 17” which is going to be located 17, High Street, Headcorn, Kent TN27 9NH

The application is for a ground floor property with access to a rear garden and toilets.

The premises is situated within the main High Street of Headcorn.

The requested hours of operation, sale of alcohol and live/recorded music for the premises will be Monday to Thursday 12:00hrs to 21:00hrs, Friday and Saturday 12:00hrs to 22:00hrs and Sunday 12:00hrs to 16:00hrs. There is no provision of late night refreshment for this application

Kent Police understand that the applicant intends the premises to be used as a Micropub that will supply a range of beverages, prepared on site for customers along with alcohol from local producers.

The premises will provide customers the opportunity to sit at the venue utilising both inside and outside.

This licence needs to be robust enough to cover all possibilities in promoting the licensing objectives.

Kent Police believe the venue may undermine the licensing objectives in the following ways:

It needs to be understood that this Premises Licence will potentially allow people to drink alcohol from 12:00hrs to 21:00/22:00hrs, some of them may become involved in acts of crime and/or disorder.

If persons are involved in disorder this will have a significant impact on the local community which has a lot of elderly and young families as it is a rural location.

Therefore steps need to be taken to control the noise coming from the premises as well as controlling the noise of customers leaving the premises. It is obvious when customers leave the premise there is potential their actions may impact on local residents living directly in the vicinity and when you add in the fact that they have been drinking for some time, the problem will be magnified.

There could be significant impact on traffic when customers leave as the premises leads straight onto the A274 which is a busy road at certain times of the day. When you add in the fact that they have been drinking for some time, the problem will be magnified. 

As with any Premises Licensed for the sale of alcohol there is a likelihood that children may be exposed to the sale and consumption, measures must be in place to ensure that they are protected from such exposure.

Kent Police does not feel that the operating schedule provides sufficient information to allay the concerns that this application gives rise to. Kent Police believes that should the premises licence be granted as applied for then strong conditions and management controls will be necessary to ensure that the licensing objectives are upheld at all times.

Please use separate sheets where necessary

Suggested conditions that could be added to the licence to remedy the representation or other suggestions the Licensing Sub Committee may take into account:

Please use separate sheets where necessary

Kent Police seeks the attachment of the following conditions to any premises licence granted under this application:

1.   CCTV will be provided in the form of a recordable system, capable of providing pictures of evidential quality in all lighting conditions particularly facial recognition. 

a.   Cameras shall encompass all ingress and egress to the premises, fire exits and all areas where the sale and supply of alcohol occurs.

b.   Equipment must be maintained in good working order, be correctly time and date stamped, recordings MUST be kept on the hard drive and kept for a period of 31 days and handed to Police upon reasonable request. 

c.    The premises licence holder must ensure at all times a DPS or appointed member of staff is capable and competent at downloading CCTV footage in a recordable format to the Police and Local Authority upon reasonable request.

2.   All persons that sell or supply alcohol to customers must have licensing training. 

a.   Training should take place within six weeks of employment and any new employees will be supervised until the training has taken place. 

b.   Refresher training should be repeated a minimum of every six months or earlier if required due to changes of legislation. 

c.    Training records must be kept on the premises and shall contain the nature, content and frequency of all training.

d.   Records must be made available for inspection by Police, Police Licensing Officer and authorised officers from the Local Authority upon request either electronically or hard copy.

3.   A refusal recording register will be in operation at the premises. All staff involved in the sale of alcohol will be fully trained in the system and it will record the following:

a.   Time of refusal

b.   Item refused

c.    Name of description of the person refused

d.   Reason for Refusal

e.   Name of staff member making the refusal.

4.   The refusal register will be available for inspection to any Police Officer, Local Authority Licensing Officer or Trading Standards Officer at any reasonable time.

5.   A Challenge 25 scheme will be adopted at the premises. All staff involved in the sale or supply of alcohol will be trained in the scheme and such training will be recorded. Such records will be available to the Police or other responsible authority upon request.

6.   The premises will undertake the “Challenge 25” Scheme which will be advertised within the premises by way of sufficient posters to make the public aware.

7.   Only Home Office approved ID of proof of age will be accepted by staff. This will include photographic driving licence, a passport or a ‘PASS’ marked proof of age card.

8.   Alcohol sold for consumption off the premises will only be supplied in sealed containers. No persons will be permitted to remove alcohol from the licensed area in open containers.