There were no apologies for absence.

No declarations of interest were made.

An application for the variation of a Premises Licence in respect of Hollybush, 494 Penn Road, Penn, Wolverhampton, WV4 4HU, had been received from John Gaunt & Partners on behalf of Marston’s PLC, the Premises Licence Holder.

Ms J. Till, Section Leader (Licensing), provided an outline of the variation application, drawing attention to an administrative error in the report – Paragraph 2.3 should have stated ‘The application is to add areas to licensable activities’, not to add hours. Ms M. Hazlewood, John Gaunt & Partners on behalf of the applicant, confirmed that the summary was accurate.

The Chair drew attention to concerns raised by local residents that Notices of the application were not displayed for the necessary length of time in appropriate positions.  J. Till, Section Leader (Licensing) said that responsibility lay with the applicant and that the Licensing Authority did not routinely check where Notices had been erected.  M. Hazlewood said that the Notices had been properly displayed on the public highway (Penn Road) with the correct distances between Notices as per the regulations.  They were also erected on the side road point of access.

M. Hazlewood presented the application on behalf of her client, stating the following:

·     Ms A. Passmore had been the Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) for 18 months;

·     The nature of the proposed variation was as detailed on page 8 (Appendix 1) of the report but, to summarise, it would be an extension of the licensed but related only to a new external area and only sought sales of alcohol and late night refreshments.  The area had previously been used as a beer garden;

·     The site was now very different to how it had been in the past and the applicant understood the residents’ concerns but Marston’s intended to adhere to it’s ‘F Plan’ – food, families, female friendly, forties and fifties.

In advance of the meeting, M. Hazlewood had spoken to the residents that had raised objections about the evolution of the site.  She requested permission to circulate plans detailing this.  Ms S. Hardwick, Senior Solicitor, said that would be permitted should the Chair and the objectors agree to it, which they did.

The meeting adjourned to allow the clerk to make copies of the site plans, which were accompanied by copies of the premises food and drink menu to highlight the ‘F Plan’ focus of the establishment.

The meeting reopened and copies of the site plans were circulated.  The Senior Solicitor emphasised that only licensable activities were to be considered, not matters of planning policy.

M. Hazlewood talked through the site plans, which detailed amendments to the Licence made in 2010 and 2014 along with the current proposals, making specific reference to the following in relation to the current application:

·     The additional external areas for which the sale of alcohol would be extended were detailed in green.  The patio area would retain a 10pm curfew;

·     The reason for the application was to enable the food trade to grow.  Staffing levels had already been increased by more  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.