To receive apologies for absence.

To receive any details of Members nominated to attend the meeting in place of a Member of the committee.

To receive any declarations of interest by Members in respect of items on the agenda.

To consider an application for a new premises licence in of Premier Inn, 16 Blackfriars Street, Hereford. HR4 9HS.

Prior to making their decision the members heard from Ms Emma Bowell, Licensing Technical Officer and Leah Wilson, Trading Standards Officer.  Members also heard from Chris Grunert representing the applicant and Stuart Rose, Regional Acquisitions Manager

Ms Wilson explained that representations 1 and 2 had been agreed with the applicant.   The sticking point was in connection with Challenge 25 and the following points were raised:

·                Each application was decided on a case by case basis.   In this case the applicant had applied for an on and off licence and Challenge 25 was felt appropriate due to the close proximity of the city centre; Hereford Football Club’s grounds; a secondary school and a primary school. 

·                Whitbread in Scotland operate challenge 25 so Trading Standards did not believe that it would be onerous

·                Herefordshire Council’s policy was to request Challenge 25 unless there were exceptional circumstance.   No exceptional circumstances had been presented to them.

·                In the experience of Trading Standards, there was more difficulty in a member of staff identifying a customer under 21.

·                The applicant had indicated that they do independently test their premises in connection with Challenge 21 but no evidence of how this was conducted had been received.

·                Whitbread Group PLC had a primary authority relationship with Bedfordshire Central Council and they have adopted Challenge 25.

The committee then heard from Mr Grunert who indicated that he would concentrate on the Challenge 25 as that was the issue:

·                Challenge 21 is the policy of Whitbread Group PLC who had been an early adopter of Challenge 21

·                Whitbread supported Challenge 21 and trained staff.    The training provided is detailed and is refreshed at a minimum annually.    

·                Whitbread do not want alcohol to fall into the wrong hands.     

·                The reason for an off licence request was so that residents of the hotel could purchase alcohol to take to their rooms.   They would be happy to restrict licence to residents of the hotel only.

·                Challenge 25 is a statutory requirement in Scotland but not in England and Wales.   

·                Whitbread Group PLC wished to have consistency across their holdings.  This consistency would also enable staff to transfer between premises and there would be no change in processes. 

·                All of the till prompts and information were for Challenge 21.

·                The new hotel was an investment in Herefordshire which would be a modest size hotel at 65 rooms and would create 25 jobs. 

·                The committee needed to be mindful of the legislation as the burden was to assess whether there is evidence to modify the licence.    

·                Whitbread Group PLC was a responsible operator and have grown on that reputation.    

·                The group use Serve Legal to carry and spot checks and any fails were acted upon. 

·                No evidence had been provided of a failed Challenge 21 by Trading Standards.

·                The police had conceded that Challenge 21 is appropriate and their agreement should also be taken into account.

Following questions by the committee is was confirmed:

·                There will be a food and beverage service but the main  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.