THE COUNTY COUNCIL’s Licensing Sub-Committee granted an extension of hours to a Tenby pub this Tuesday (Feb 18).
The Committee considered an application from the licensees of Bar 10 in St George’s Street to allow it to remain open until 2:00 am.
Tenby Town Council objected to the application and Cllr Paul Rapi represented the Town Council in front of the Committee.
Cllr Rapi told the Committee that people walking past the premises during the day tended to avoid the front of the premises ‘because it can be a bit lively for some people’.
Licensing officers issued a noise abatement to the bar in September last year.
Cllr Rapi said that he and other councillors continued to receive complaints about noise from the pub, even though those complaints had neither been recorded nor reported.
He continued: “Tenby Town Council want to see some sort of control over this noise that’s coming out of Bar 10.
“It’s the main street in Tenby, the sort of rowdiness that occurs between 5 and 7 pm in the summer is not acceptable.”
The Committee also heard from Police that there general noise and disturbance were prevalent in the confines of Tenby’s town centre during the summer months. The area around Bar 10 is a ‘cumulative’ noise area caused by the presence of a significant number of pubs and bars in the vicinity
A report regarding noise pollution prepared by the local authority said that ‘despite a number of complaints and interventions by … the Designated Premises Supervisor has not shown sufficient consideration and understanding of the need to control noise from activities at the premises to ensure disturbance is not caused to nearby residents’.
When cross-examined by the solicitor acting for the applicants, Mr David Lewis, the Council officer presenting that report, Nathan Miles, confirmed his department received no complaints about noise since a noise abatement was issued the preceding September. Questioned once more by Mr Lewis, Mr Miles also confirmed no complaints were received by the Council following the issue of seasonal temporary extensions granted to the premises over Christmas and New Year.
Objections to the hours’ variations raised by the Licensing Inspector, Geraint Griffiths were also examined both by members of the Committee and David Lewis.
Licensing inspector Geriant Griffiths said in the past there had been issues with CCTV not working and there was a “serious disregard for licensing objectives.”
During questioning, it emerged that the Licensing Inspector had no information about the premises following his previous visit to it over two years ago. The Licensing Inspector agreed that comments about the quality of CCTV in his report were similarly out of date. Mr David Lewis pointed out that the premises’ owners installed a new CCTV system at considerable expense after the Licensing Inspector’s 2017 visit. The Licensing Officer could not contradict the applicant’s solicitor on that point.
The most contemporary information in front of the Committee came from Dyfed Powys Police’s Pembrokeshire Licensing Officer, Nigel Lewis.
The Licensing Officer set out that he met with the applicants to discuss their application and conducted ‘amicable mediation’ regarding the most contentious elements of it. He explained how, once he related the level of opposition to the original proposal, the applicants eagerly embraced the opportunity to address concerns and alter their application from its original form.
Nigel Lewis was questioned closely by Cllr John Davies about public order incidents and related the only one linked to the premises in the last year was one in which staff were assaulted. The Herald reported that incident in our February 7 edition and confirm that a Torfaen man pleaded guilty to assaulting staff when he was asked to return inside the pub to prevent a public nuisance.
The Licensing Officer reported during mediation, the applicant accepted there appeared to an issue of noise escaping from the premises and they needed show diligence regarding it in the future
After retiring to consider their decision, the Committee reconvened and approved the application subject to the following conditions with immediate effect: Bar 10 would be permitted to serve drinks until 1:00 am on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday each week with the premises to be closed at 1:30 am; recorded music would end at midnight on each night; two qualified door staff would be engaged for weekend nights and also for other evenings to which extended hours applied; on Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and on Sundays before a Monday Bank Holiday, Bar 10 could supply alcohol until 1:30 am and the premises must close by 2:00 am. On each of those dates, recorded music must stop at midnight.
Committee Chair Cllr Tim Evans concluded by adding the mediation conducted between Nigel Lewis and the applicants had ‘enhanced the application’.