No apologies for absence were received.

No declarations of interest were made.

The Licensing Panel were asked to consider an application for a variation of the premises licence for Rainbow, 68 New Road, Gravesend, Kent DA11 0AE.

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and went through the process he intended to follow. The Chair 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, their legal advisor and the Committee Services Officer (for minute writing purposes only) for the panel to consider their decision.

The Licensing Act 2003 required the Council (as licensing authority) to carry out its various functions so as to promote the following four licensing objectives:

· the prevention of crime and disorder

· the protection of public safety

· the prevention of public nuisance

· the protection of children from harm

The Senior Licensing Officer explained the application was for a variation to the existing premises licence which was received on 17 September 2021 from the applicant. The variation is to include off sales of alcohol for online ordering only. On 15 November the Licensing Team received an objection from Kent Police Licensing Team.

The applicant addressed the Panel and outlined the reasons for the variation application including the impact COVID has had to his business. Currently 80-90% of the business is take-away and although the current licence states he can remain open until 3.30am the applicant has been closing the premises by 1.30am. The variation to the licence would allow the off sales of alcohol for online ordering only.

The Chair opened the hearing to questions from Councillors; the below responses were received from the applicant:

·         When ordering alcohol online and to check whether the recipient is over 18, the delivery driver will check the name of the person who ordered the delivery against the name on the card that paid for the order before handing over the delivery. If the recipient looks underage, they will be asked to prove they are over 18 years of age before handing over the delivery. 

·         Only wine, beer and cider will be sold not high unit alcohol e.g. whisky or vodka.

·         Only online alcohol purchases will be sold and they have to be delivered to the delivery address household. No one will be able to purchase alcohol on the licenced premises and be handed the alcohol over the counter.

·         Following on from a question about door supervisors and why this was included in the original premises licence the applicant explained that he was not sure why this was included originally and would like over time to have this removed.  

·         The Chair asked the applicant if they had taken any legal advice before putting in this variation and the applicant confirmed he had not.

·         The Chair explained to the Panel and applicant that the applicant had applied for a licence to sell low-alcohol. The legal definition for low-alcohol beverages is alcohol must be 1.2% abv or less. The applicant was not aware of the percentage of low alcohol.  

·         The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.