Venue: Abbey House, Abingdon
Contact: Susan Harbour, Democratic Services Officer
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Election of a chairman To elect a chairman for this hearing. Minutes: The panel elected Councillor Charlotte Dickson as chairman for the meeting. |
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Declarations of interests To receive any declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests in respect of items on the agenda for this meeting. Minutes: None. |
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To note the procedure for this meeting. Minutes: The chairman outlined the procedure which is contained within the agenda pack. |
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Application for a premises licence - old Post Office, 25 High Street, Abingdon PDF 99 KB To consider the head of legal and democratic service’s report. Additional documents:
Minutes: Nigel Connor, solicitor, and Rachel Turner, area manager were present to represent J D Wetherspoons, the applicant. Also present, in an observer role, were Rupert Stephens and Nick Piasechi, who were representatives of the landlord: London and Economic Properties Ltd.
Celia Warman, a local resident, was present to raise concerns about the application.
Kate Fisher, the licensing officer, presented her report: highlighting the major issues including the proposed opening and licensing hours and the objections raised.
Neither the Panel, nor the applicant, nor the objector had any questions for the licensing officer.
Nigel Connor, spoke on behalf of the applicant. He presented the case and highlighted some amendments which had been agreed by the applicant and which were within the officer’s report.
Mr Connor explained Wetherspoon’s raison d’être as providing an all age environment and being food led. There would be approximately 120 covers presented on permanent tables and chairs and children would be welcome, with adults, until 9.30 pm. The company sold real ale and did not run happy hour type promotions.
Abingdon on Thames Town Council had raised concerns about the sale of alcohol at 8.00 am. Mr Connor explained that this was largely to service shift workers and was a low volume of sales. He also explained that although alcohol sold was “good value”, Wetherspoons pubs had good management and supervision in place.
In answer to questions from the Panel and Mrs Warman, Mr Connor made the following points.
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