Covent Garden London
The heart of London's West End
Licensing Report
During the year, we have surveyed all food & drink premises in the area again (but not necessarily by consuming something in each of them!):
139 Restaurants (in 1999: 127); 136 Sandwich Bars and Cafés (127); 99 Bars and Public Houses (102); 23 Theatres (23); 12 Hotels & Conference Centres (12); 12 Clubs (11); 11 Off-licences (11); 1 Cinema (1) - a total of 433 premises (in 1999: 412).
We have also compiled a list of all premises in the area that are licensed for music & dancing, and have calculated their total capacities:
21 premises in the Westminster and 12 in the Camden part of Covent Garden are licensed for public entertainment. Their combined capacity is in excess of 12,200 persons and their busiest period is between 2:30am - 4am Mondays to Saturdays, and between 00:30am - 2am on Sundays.
During the past year we have considered 12 applications concerning public entertainment licences, 9 Justices licences, 2 night café licences and 1 clubs licence. The majority of these have resulted in a hearing, where we have made our objections and represented residents.
One interesting discovery was the fact that residents in city centres up and down the country are faced with similar problems as in the West End of London, albeit at a (much) lesser scale, in many cases. The Central Cities Institute organised a national conference on licensing and quality of life issues, in which the CGCA took an active part. As a result, the Civic Trust is expected to set up a national working group to deal with licensing issues, in order to provide a response to the very powerful lobbying by the brewing and entertainment industry.
The CGCA goes to great lengths to explore possible compromises and we usually liaise directly with the applicant or owner of the premises concerned and the residents who make complaints about noise, disturbance and anti-social behaviour.
In order to help the objectors' case, the CGCA gathers evidence by observations outside 'problem premises'. We have been very grateful for the permanent loan of a video camera and a digital camera - which enable us to gather vital evidence by taking video footage and photos from the bedrooms and living rooms of affected neighbours.
The renewal of Justices licences takes place every three years. The last tri-annual renewal was at the beginning of 2001, when the CGCA objected to the renewal of 2 off-licences, 1 public house and 2 late-night bars. The process has resulted in mountains of paperwork, much useful experience, and a far better insight into the 'dark art' that is 'Licensing'. We are now convinced that trying to revoke an existing licence on the grounds of nuisance, loud noise, rowdy behaviour, breaches of licence conditions and evasion of the law is virtually impossible. The in-depth knowledge of the various laws and regulations requires a lawyer of the highest calibre - even the Licensing Justices and the Courts made errors! How can the ordinary resident stand up against the continuous onslaughts on their quality of life?
Two licence applications of great concern during the year were the proposal by the Spot (Maiden Lane) to extend its capacity from 260 to 638 persons until 1am - this matter is yet to be heard; and Tesco Metro's proposal to trade all night with a Night Café Licence - thankfully this application was refused by Westminster, although Tesco appealed against this decision, and then subsequently withdrew their appeal.
We now await the Government's proposals for 24-hour drinking. It is widely expected that new licensing legislation could be on the statute books by the end of 2002. This will transfer the granting of liquor licences to the local council, who already deal with entertainment, night café and tables & chairs licences - 'joined-up government' indeed.
Covent Garden Community Association Annual Report 2000-2001
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