Brighton pub’s plea for later hours turned down

A Brighton pub has had a request for later hours turned down after its neighbours and Sussex Police objected.

But it can serve food until later in the evening and use a microphone for pub quizzes instead of a loudhaler.

The Camelford Arms in Camelford Street wanted to serve alcohol until 2am on Fridays and Saturdays and stay open until 2.30pm on both nights.

But a Brighton and Hove City Council licensing panel said that it should stick to its current 1am cut-off for last orders.

The panel, sitting at Hove Town Hall, said that while the pub was well run, it was in the council’s “cumulative impact area”.

Licensing restrictions are tougher in the centre of Brighton because of the cumulative impact of having so many licensed premises – in particular, pubs, clubs and bars.

And last year the council extended the extent of the cumulative impact area while toughening up many of the restrictions governing applications for new or varied licences in the area.

The aim was to reduce crime and disorder, noise and anti-social behaviour.

The licensing panel was told that the Camelford Arms had been the subject of complaints about noise, with a warning notice issued last month.

Inspector Roy Apps, from Sussex Police, said that new licences in the St James’s Street area, which includes Camelford Street, would not permit last orders as late as 1am – let alone later.

He said that people who had spent an extra hour drinking would be more likely to make a noise or contribute to the crime and disorder afflicting the area rather than less likely.

Nick Perkins, the pub’s solicitor, told the panel that the extra hour would mean a more gradual dispersal of dozens of customers rather than at present.

Alistair Mackinnon-Musson, the pub’s owner, said that an extra hour would encourage many customers to stay in the pub and then go home than head to Legends or the Bulldog near by.

This, he said, would support the council’s licensing objectives, including reducing noise and problematic behaviour.

Inspector Apps told the panel: “We have had minor complaints, the most recent if which was on Saturday (14 April).

“The complainant said: ‘There was an altercation and a glass was thrown in the direction of my house. It didn’t cause any damage but there was broken glass everywhere.’
“It doesn’t indicate a badly run premises. I’m sure they’re well run. But it does demonstrate the cumulative impact of licensed premises in this area and the sort of things that can happen when people are drinking alcohol even in a well-run premises.

“Some people get drunk. Some people get angry.”

Neighbour Tony Andrews submitted a noise diary to the council in October 2010 and said that the same problems were still happening now.

Groups of smokers gathered outside his house, he said, and people talked into mobile phones, leaning against his front room window.

He was one of 17 objectors to the pub’s application from Camelford Street, Margaret Street and the Van Alen Building.

Dr Janie Thomas, from nearby Charles Street, said that while she couldn’t hear noise from the pub, she was disturbed by the noise if people talking loudly as they left licensed premises in the area.

She said that she did not believe that most of them intended to be noisy but neighbours nonetheless suffered disturbance.

Trevor Scobie, of Madeira Place, said that people living in the area were being deprived of their sleep in a very densely populated part of Brighton.

He said that some properties were listed buildings and could not easily be insulated because of legal restrictions. As a result people were not able to enjoy peace in their own homes.

Iain Williams has lived next door to the pub for five years, including when it was called the White Horse under previous owners.

He said that he suffered noise seepage until the early hours of the morning. He said that he wore ear plugs and couldn’t sleep because of the incessant drum and bass beats emanating in the early hours.

He also said that he could hear every question during quizzes and could clearly hear what was supposed to be background music.

Another neighbour, Andrew Branch, said: “You just don’t ever get a night’s sleep. It’s somehow not right.”

He said that there was no point in going to bed early if you had to get up early for work.

He said that he felt he was being driven from his own home and at times had stayed elsewhere.

Audrey Simpson, a former councillor who lives in the Van Alen Building, said that she spoke for 42 residents.

She said that life was terrible when the pub was the White Horse and that the new management had started well and communicated with neighbours but things were starting to slide.

She urged Mr Mackinnon-Musson to withdraw the application for extended hours, saying: “Alastair, I’m a big fan of yours but you’re ruining your image. You have made this application just so you can sell more beer.”

Mr Perkins said that the premises were well run and denied any suggestion of a slippage in standards.

He said that two houses in the street were let as party houses, with 25 to 30 people staying at a time. They were often in town for stag and hen parties.

He said that the Camelford was “a community pub with a hint of lavender” – and would deal with the warning about noise in a responsible way.

He said: “It’s not a quiet street. It’s a major thoroughfare between the seafront and St James’s Street with two later-opening premises at either end of the street and two party houses in the street.

“We’re a community pub and we’re becoming more food oriented. There is nothing that we are proposing that will detract from the licensing objectives.”

The licensing panel chairman, Councillor Lizzie Deane, sitting with Councillors Dee Simson and Lynda Hyde, said that the pub could sell late-night refreshments all the time drink was on sale.

She said that staff could use a single microphone for public address but not for music and only if the windows and doors were all shut.

She said: “We acknowledge that these are very well run premises.”

But she added: “We share the concerns of the residents, environmental health officers and the police and we have heard how residents do suffer. We believe that later hours would add to these problems.”

She said that as a result the pub could not stay open and serve drinks later on Fridays and Saturdays.