Agenda item

To advise elected members of the details of an application to grant a premise licence submitted under section 51 of the Licensing Act 2003.

Attached to the report are the following appendices:

Appendix 1 – Application for Premises Licence

Appendix 2 - Trading Standards Report

Appendix 3 – Police Report

Recommended - That the Sub-Committee make a determination under section 44 of the Licensing Act 2003 at the end of the hearing or within 5 working days of the last day of this hearing as required by Regulation 26(2) Licensing Act 2003 (Hearings) Regulations 2005.

In accordance with the Hyndburn Borough Council policy on the conduct of Hearings and the Licensing Act 2003 (Hearings) Regulations 2005, the Licensing Manager, Mrs Wendy Redfern, advised the Licensing Sub Committee of the details of an application for the grant of a premises licence under section 17 of the Licensing Act 2003 (The Act).

The Sub Committee were requested to make a determination on the licence required under section 18 of The Act.

A copy of the Licensing Authority’s Conduct of Hearings had been circulated prior to the meeting with the agenda.

The Licensing Manager reported that the applicant had been invited to the meeting and declined to attend, the Committee decided to proceed in their absence.

The Licensing Manager provided the Committee with information on the application for a premises licence for Giewont, 192 Blackburn Road, Accrington under Diar Abobakr Abdolrahmanpour.

The application was to allow the sale of alcohol from the premises for consumption off the premises between 8am to midnight daily.

A copy of the application was attached at Appendix 1.

The stores previous licence was revoked by the Licensing Sub Committee at a review hearing in November 2024 under a different licensee due to Trading Standards seizing a large quantity of illegal vapes and tobacco products.

Following this, an application was submitted to transfer the licence to Mr Abdolrahmanpour, the current applicant from the licence holder at the time, however, the Police submitted an objection to the transfer and the application was withdrawn.

Please note item 5.7 within the report was to be disregarded.

The Police and Trading Standards made representations at the meeting.

PC Phil Needham read out his statement, which covered the objection for the premises licence under the prevention of crime and disorder and public safety licensing objectives. Mr Abdolrahmanpour has another business in Wolverhampton and on 8^th June 2024, Police seized illicit tobacco products. Mr Abdolrahmanpour had also applied for the licence for Giewont, previously on 11^th July 2024, which was withdrawn due to the links of the sale of illicit tobacco products in Wolverhampton.

The statement from Trading Standards was presented by Lauren Manning. Lancashire Council Trading Standards documented the reasoning on the objection to the application for a premises licence at Giewont for Mr Abdolrahmanpour. A review on the premises licence for Giewont was applied for by Trading standards on the 31^st May 2024 due to illicit tobacco being seized from the premises and alcohol had been sold to an officer outside of the permitted hours. The hearing was held on the 18^th July 2024 and the Licensing Sub Committee decided to revoke the premises licence.  Lancashire Trading Standards objected to this licence requested based on the history of Mr Abdolrahmanpour’s history of being involved in illicit tobacco. Wolverhampton Trading Standards seized illegal tobacco, vapes and cash from the premises in Wolverhampton on 14^th March 2024, and as reported above the local police seized illicit tobacco from the premises on 8^th June 2024.

It was the opinion of Lancashire Trading Standards that the prevention of crime and disorder licensing objective would be undermined if the the licence was granted.

The Committee Members had a discussion with the Police and Trading Standards on the evidence submitted.

Resolved                 - In accordance with Section 18 of the Licensing Act 2003, that, the Premise Licence should not be granted.  The Committee felt that the evidence submitted at the meeting by Lancashire County Council, Trading Standards and the Police had been compelling and this had given significant weight to the making of the decision. The Committee also agreed the following when making their decision:

The poor history of the premises

The poor history of the applicant

The illegal activity that has taken place

The lack of trust in the premises license applicant

The undermining of the licensing objectives to prevent public crime and disorder and public safety.