An apology for absence was received from Cllr Baljit Hayre. Cllr Tony Rana acted as his substitute.    

No declarations of interest were made.

The Licensing Panel were asked to consider an application for a review of the premises licence for the The King’s Head, King Street, Gravesend, DA12 2EB.

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and went through the process he intended to follow.  He explained that once everyone had made their submissions and all questions had been answered, the hearing would close to all parties except for the Panel and the Committee Services Officer (for minutes writing purposes only) for the panel to consider their decision.

As the Licensing Panel had already heard the Part A evidence submitted by both Kent  Police and the Kings Head at the expedited review hearing on 15 October 2021 and the hearing to discuss interim steps on the 25 October 2021, the Chair asked that both parties be brief on their introductions.

The Barrister pointed out that only two of the three Members of the Panel had sat on the previous two hearings and asked for the Chairs approval to go through the main points raised.

The Chair agreed and allowed the Kent Police and the Barrister to summarise the main points made at the previous two hearings surrounding the incidents that led to the review of the premises licence. 

An expedited hearing was held on 15 October 2021, where the Licensing Panel reviewed the papers submitted by Kent Police and their supporting evidence. The Panel made the decision to suspend the premises licence with immediate effect. 

A representation was received on 22 October 2021, from the premises licence holder, Mr Ismail Sucu and his lawyer Mr Jon Payne and further CCTV evidence was submitted. Another hearing was held on the 25 October 2021 to discuss interim steps and the Panel decided to reinstate the licence immediately with restricted conditions of-

• The licensable activities will stop at 11.30pm with the premises closed by midnight until we hear a full review Hearing
• A new DPS must be appointed and the application to be received by the Licensing Authority within 3 working days from the date of this hearing
• A reminder that all door staff had to be SIA registered

Following the introductions by both parties, the Chair moved the meeting into Part B to discuss the supplementary evidence provided by the Kent Police and the Kings Head legal team.

The Police called Phil Campbell into the meeting as a witness against the Kings head. Phil Campbell outlined his witness statement to the Panel and both parties as well as the Members, had their questions answered.

The Police played three videos showing CCTV footage that showed incidents occurring inside or near the premises known as The Kings head; the videos were dated:

1.         10 October 2021 at 02:58am – An incident occurred immediately outside the         premises entrance

2.         20 September – 01:40am – An incident occurred inside the beer garden of the      premises

3.         26 October at 02:50am – An incident occurred across the road from the premises

In light of the evidence presented, the Police asked  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.