The Licensing Officer introduced the report which asked Members to consider the application for a review of the licence granted under the Licensing Act 2003 in respect of the Life Nightclub, 76-78A High Street, Sittingbourne, Kent ME10 4PB made by PC 11044 Daniel Hunt. The Licensing Officer reminded Members that the reasons for the review were to promote the licensing objectives: The prevention of crime and disorder; the protection of public safety; the prevention of public nuisance; and the protection of children from harm. The premises had breached the licence conditions and the review application was set out at appendix II of the report. The Licensing Officer informed Members that during the 28-day consultation period comments had been received from the Environmental Health team with regards to some noise complaints at the premises. She added that Kent Police Licensing officers, premises licence holder and Designated Premises Supervisor (DPS) held a meeting at the premises with their legal representatives and some proposed additional conditions to the premises licence were discussed, and these were set out in appendix V of the report.

The Chair asked the Kent Police Licensing Officer, PC 11044 Daniel Hunt to present his statement. He explained the five incidents that were set out in the report, one of which was still on-going.

The Chair invited Members of the panel and officers to ask questions:

-       If the premises had more door staff at the front and within the radius of the premises would it have prevented some of these incidents?;

-       how many door staff did the premises operate with, and what was the capacity of the nightclub?; and

-       how often were staff trained, and was it reviewed by the premises holder?.

The Kent Police Licensing Officer made it clear to Members that a presence on the door did not always prevent incidents from occurring. However, Kent Police expected premises to be responsible for the customers leaving the premises and for security staff to make any early interventions, without putting themselves at risk, within a certain radius of the premises.

The Premises Holder clarified that the nightclub on a normal night would operate with 4-6 door personnel with extra staff inside the facility, walking the floor. The nightclub could hold up to 285 people and the staff were regularly trained and kept up-to-date on the nightclub’s procedures.