-
Agenda, decisions and minutes
Venue: MS Teams
Contact: Democratic Services on 01424 451484 email: democraticservices@hastings.gov.uk
Note: d.
Items No. Item Appointment of Chair for this Meeting
Minutes:
In accordance with the terms of reference of the Licensing Committee, the council solicitor invited nominations for the appointment of Chair for the duration of the meeting. Councillor Sinden proposed that Councillor Edwards should take the Chair, seconded by Councillor Roberts.
RESOLVED (unanimously) that Councillor Edwards be appointed as Chair for the duration of the meeting.
Apologies for absence
Minutes:
None.
Minutes of previous meeting PDF 117 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
RESOLVED (unanimously) that the minutes of the meeting held on 12 February 2020 be approved as a true record.
Declarations of Interest
Minutes:
None.
Notification of Additional Urgent Items
Minutes:
None.
Review of Premise Licence. The Four Seasons Hastings Ltd PDF 266 KB
Additional documents:
- Map 4 seasons , item 58. PDF 132 KB
- Licence review application Four Seasons Hastings Ltd_Redacted , item 58. PDF 322 KB
- P1186 Evidence pack recd 161220_Redacted , item 58. PDF 10 MB
- P1186 Statement pack recd 161220_Redacted , item 58. PDF 3 MB
- Our Client Four Seasons representations Aliant Law 07012021 , item 58. PDF 256 KB
- premises licence transfer & change dps 23032016 , item 58. PDF 621 KB
Minutes:
Councillor Edwards set out the procedure that the Sub-Committee would adopt (in accordance with standard practice).
The Lead Licensing Officer, Mr Bryant, presented the report to consider an application to review the premises licence as a result of representations received from East Sussex Trading Standards under the licensing objectives "prevention of crime and disorder".
Mr Bryant said that a formal application was received on 8th December 2020 from East Sussex County Council Trading Standards Department to review the premises licence of the Four Seasons Convenience Store, under Section 51 of the Licensing Act 2003.
The premises is operated as a convenience store which has been in operation since 2008. In March 2016 the licence was transferred to The Four Seasons Hastings Ltd with Ms Thushya Inthirakumar as the sole director.
The application for review was considered by the Hastings Borough Council Licensing Team and deemed valid and in line with government guidance. The review asks for revocation of the licence due to the seriousness of counterfeit alcohol and its potential link to organised crime.
Mr Bryant reminded the Committee that before a review hearing can be held the Licensing Authority is required to place a copy of the review notice on the premises and the public notice board situated at Muriel Matters House. These notices were all correctly served and no further representations were made to the Council during the 28-day consultation period.
The licence holder’s legal representative, Mr Ganesan, asked Mr Bryant to clarify the number of bottles of wine seized by Trading Standards. Mr Bryant said he believed 4 bottles were seized.
Mr Davison, Enforcement and Investigations Manager, East Sussex County Council Trading Standards, presented the application for review of the licence.
Mr Davison said that 7 bottles of Zinfandel wine were seized, with 3 taken for sampling and the other 4 seized on suspicion of being counterfeit.
During the early part of 2020 it was apparent that counterfeit wine was prevalent in certain parts of Hastings and St Leonards. As a consequence, inquiries were conducted by Trading Standards and test purchases took place. On 10th June officers from Trading Standards attended the Four Seasons Convenience Store and conducted an inspection. The inspection took place in the rear store cupboard, and it was noted that no wine of the type seized was available for purchase in the store. The member of staff present informed Trading Standards that the bottles had been removed from sale by the manager as a customer had said that it had tasted funny.
Of the 4 bottles seized for trademark infringement 3 were confirmed to be counterfeit. The bottles seized for sampling proved not to be genuine. Whilst it was determined that the bottles examined were not dangerous to consume Mr Davison said that there can be inconsistency with how counterfeit products are produced.
Traceability of the products was requested and no response was received. In subsequent correspondence the licence holder informed Trading Standards that the products were received at the ... view the full minutes text for item 58.
-
My council
Contact
Got a question about democratic services?
Content
The content on this page is the responsibility of our Democratic Services team.