Beachcliff Fish and Chips on Penarth's Esplanade have been granted an extension to their Licence allowing them to open later and sell alcohol past 11 pm despite concerns raised by local residents.

The decision was made after a presentation by the fish and chip shop and local residents to the Vale Council licensing committee.

Five representations were made by local residents. There had been no representations made from the Responsible Authorities.

The case was made, on behalf of the eatery, by Matthew Phipps of TLT Solicitors.

The changes that Beachcliff wanted to make are listed below:

• Permission to sell alcohol on and off the premises until 23:00 hours Sunday,

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday;

• That on Thursday, Friday and Saturday the permission to sell alcohol be

extended until 00:00 hours (12 midnight) but only to be consumed on-site;

• That on Thursday, Friday and Saturday they would like to sell hot food and hot drink until 00:00 hours (12 midnight) (late night refreshment);
• To have 30 minutes 'wind-down' period.

Mr. Phipps stated the Applicant recognised that one of the key concerns raised was the off-sales of alcohol after 23:00 hours and on the note submitted to the Sub Committee the Applicant had proposed that the only permission for the sale of alcohol after 23:00 hours would be for on-site sales only and that customers would have to consume a drink with food on the premises after 23:00 hours on Thursday, Friday and Saturdays.

He said that this was not a 'greedy' application but rather a sensible, measured and proportionate one.

Mr. Phipps referred to there being a number of conditions proposed to attach to the

Licence. These attended to the issues anticipated in a License of this sort, and he

then summarised these as follows:

• Comprehensive CCTV system. This had already been installed in the

premised and covered both the inside and immediately to the outside of the

property;

• An incident log would be kept;
• No super strength beer or lager to be supplied;
• No self-service of alcohol at the premises;
• No noise nor fumes, steam or odours to escape from plant or equipment;
• Litter and cleansing procedures had been put in place in conjunction with no

collections of waste or recycling after 23:00 hours and before 08:00 hours

(which he would return to later on, as these issues had been raised by Other

Persons);

• No "bottling out" between 22:30 hours and 08:00 hours;
• No deliveries between 22:00 hours and 08:00 hours;
• Waste to be properly presented;
• Regular litter patrols;
• Smoking area to be supervised;
• Challenge 21 Proof of Age Policy applied in relation to alcohol.

These were designed to address concerns and indeed the license – if granted - would impose a regulatory obligation on Beachcliff's Fish and Chip Shop.

They first applied for this license in January which should have been heard in March but for the outbreak of COVID 19 – up until the end of March 2020, the Applicant successfully obtained a number of Temporary Event Notices to allow the premises to trade with the sale of alcohol until 23:00 hours.

Mr Phipps said: ''The Applicant was unaware of any concerns being articulated about that at all."

The representations within the report did not express issues with the sale of alcohol before 23:00 hours but rather with sales after this time on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Mr. Phipps also referred to other premises in the vicinity which had hours that extend to 01:00 hours and even 02:00 hours in the morning.

He made the case that the representation made about the late-night off-licence element of the application has now been reflected and the Applicant will not be proceeding with this as a result.

None of the Responsible Authorities had submitted a representation to this application such as South Wales Police or Environmental Health.

Mr. Phipps then returned to the concerns around litter that had been raised – for

example, in the photographs submitted by the Other Parties concerning litter that

had been left around the litter bins situated around the Esplanade. In response he had submitted photographs showing staff from the premises picking up rubbish discarded around the bins in order to alleviate this.

This operated as part of a waste collection system by the Applicant and Mr. Phipps had submitted photographs showing that the premises' commercial waste had been managed effectively.

The restaurant has offered to hold six-monthly meetings with the concerned local residents.

Mr. Hughes read out the representations from Elizabeth Stokes, Christopher and Sheila Wyatt, and Pat and Martin Dorrell.

In summary, their representations covered the following issues:

• The Beachcliff was in an area with a number of residents living close by to the

Beachcliff premises. Extended hours of trading would impact residents –

noise, odour, litter, and so on;

• 23:00 – 00:00 (midnight) opening times were too late for an area with a

number of elderly residents living close by and the potential for noise and

other disruptive behaviour that these extended opening times would

engender, plus bottle collections early in the morning;

• The CCTV installed at the premises could not prevent crime in itself and

appeared to look inside the premises only and not the outside;

• Reference was made to no other fish and chip shops selling alcohol and all

closing at 22:30 hours. Other premises and times of closing were detailed

who operated later but only on a temporary basis. It was felt that the applicants could not be trusted in adhering to licensing and other council regulations;

• There were no issues with the premises operating and selling alcohol until

23:00 hours – it was the extension of this after that time plus allowing people

to drink outside that caused concern from the Other Persons.

Mr. Hughes stated that he and the Other Persons were objecting to the late

operation of the takeaway after 23:00. Prior to that time, they did not have an issue

with the sale of alcohol within the premises. They also felt that the late hours

mentioned for other businesses were seasonal only and not all year round as

proposed by the Applicant for their business.

Mr. Phipps stated that the proportion of residents in the block who made

representations was low proportionately. Elected Members had no concern with the

application. It was not the case that neighbouring premises were not operating until

later hours.

The Chairman confirmed that the application was granted for a Premises Licence at Beachcliff Traditional Fish and Chips.

Members of the Sub-Committee were satisfied that the application would not cause

unnecessary problems for local residents – the fact that the premises had operated

with Temporary Event Notices with no complaints emphasised this.

Also, the conditions offered by the Applicants gave protection to local residents

which would not be available if the licence was refused but continued to run as at

present – for example, noise and odour.

The Applicants were aware that when granted this licence could be reviewed at any

time should the operation not be supporting the licensing objectives.