Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Helen Crawford, Councillor Jane Kingman and Councillor Nikki Manterfield.

None disclosed.

The minutes of the meeting held on 11 February 2025 were proposed, seconded and AGREED.

Report ENV904 from the Licensing Officer in respect of a hearing to determine an application for the review of a premises licence.

Decision

The Committee decided to include the conditions set out by Mr Craig in his email of 19^th May 2025 and modified during the hearing to the premises licence and based on the information before them, the Committee decided to suspend the premises licence for a period of three months.

The Chairman introduced those present and confirmed who would be speaking in respect of the review before the Committee.  Lincolnshire Police confirmed that Sergeant Adams would be speaking for Lincolnshire Police and Craig Duncan, Barrister would be speaking on behalf of Seyit Ali Dogan the current Premises Licence holder and Caner Kaya who was Mr Dogan’s brother-in-law, both of whom were present at the hearing.

The Licensing Officer presented the report which concerned an application for a review of the premises licence in respect of Zorbas, 40 Broad Street, Stamford PE9 1PX.  An application for review of the premise licence had been received from Lincolnshire Police together with supporting documentation as appended to the report at Appendix 1.  It was noted that due to elements within the supporting supplementary documentation the Police had asked that they be discussed in private session, excluding the press and public.  The review had been brought under the following licensing objectives:

-        Prevention of Crime and Disorder

-        Protection of Children from Harm

-        Public Safety

-        Prevention of Public nuisance

The Police had advised that they had obtained evidence which indicated that the management of the premises had been operating in such a manner that amounted to criminal activity and therefore undermined the licensing objectives.  This included:

-        Allegations of criminal offences that had taken place at the premises

-        Breach of hours authorised for licensable activities

-        Breach of Annex 2 and Annex 3 premise licence conditions

-        Concerns over the management involved in the premises

No representations had been received from any of the other responsible authorities.  A number of comments had been received from members of the public in support of the premises and these were appended at Appendix 3.

A copy of the current Premises Licence 5001 was appended at Appendix 4.  The Licence permitted Late Night Refreshment from 23:00 to 00:30 Sunday to Tuesday and 23:00 to 02:30 Wednesday to Saturday, with the same opening hours.  The licence had been in force since it was transitioned over in November 2005.  The current licence holder was Seyit Ali Dogan who had held the Premises Licence since May 2016.

There had been previous enforcement regarding the premise, included a review application and historic rejected paperwork, due to inaccuracies contained within them and these were detailed within the report at paragraph 2.7.

It was also noted that there had been a history of Temporary Event Notices (TENS) on record submitted between 2010 and 2020, for the extension of the Late Night Refreshment at the premises but there had been no TENS submitted since March 2020.

The Committee were referred to the key considerations to consider for the promotion of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

Councillor Leadenham to raise “Ask Angela” for consideration by the Committee.

The Committee agreed to defer the item to the next meeting of the Alcohol, Entertainment and Late Night Refreshment Licensing Committee.

Committee to discuss future meeting dates.

The date of future meetings of the Committee was discussed. 

The next schedule of meetings 2025/26 would be approved at the Council AGM on Thursday 22 May 2025. The date of Licensing Committees/Alcohol, Entertainment and Late Night Refreshment Licensing Committees had been scheduled to be held on a Tuesday from June 2025 rather than a Friday. 

Members felt that the proposed decision to move the Committee had been taken without the Committee being given the opportunity to voice a preferred date as Fridays were no longer available to hold meetings, Members acknowledged the reasons for a change of date from Friday.

It was stated that Planning Committees were held on Thursday so this date was not available.  Monday, as a possible date was raised but of the Members present it was felt that Tuesday was a preferred date with a start time of 10:00am, although this did impact a particular Members ability to attend the meeting, they stated that they would make alternative arrangements.

The consensus of the Members present was that the Tuesday meetings should start at 10:00am.

As this was the last meeting before the Council AGM the Vice-Chairman, Councillor Elvis Stooke stated that it had been a pleasure to be the Vice-Chairman of the Committee as it was unknown whether this would continue after the AGM and he wished to place his thanks on record.

The meeting closed at 1:10pm.