Indoor golf venue applies for early hours drinks licence

An indoor golf venue has applied for a 2am drinks licence in the centre of Brighton but neighbours, police and the council have all objected.

The application was submitted by a business called Jungle Rumble for its One Under indoor crazy golf centre, in East Street, Brighton.

And today (Thursday 18 January) it went before a Brighton and Hove City Council licensing panel for three councillors to decide whether to grant the licence.

The panel was told that even if it refused the application, the venue could operate under a “shadow licence” which permitted the sale of alcohol until 3am each day.

The golf venue is in the former Seasons restaurant in part of the Savoy Centre – once the ABC cinema – with its frontage in East Street.

It is in a busy part of Brighton where licence applications for new bars, clubs, off-licences and late-night takeaways are usually refused because the area is already saturated with venues selling alcohol.

Jungle Rumble, a national chain operated by Angus Wright, 56, and Georgina Wright, 50, agreed a set of draft licence conditions with Sussex Police before the hearing.

But because the venue is different from most other licensed businesses in the area, the police and the council licensing team wanted the decision to be made by a panel of councillors.

Neighbours living in the nearby grade II listed Clarendon Mansions, in East Street, were worried about noise, rubbish and the late-night hours of operation.

Rachel Dickinson, who has lived in Clarendon Mansions for more than 20 years and raised four children there, said that East Street had changed since she first moved to the area.

She said: “I live a metre away from the doors so even if there are two doormen on, that’s two people talking to each other until whenever this venue is allowed to be licensed. It’s doors shutting and closing. It’s people coming out noisily.”

Two of her children were taking GCSE and A-level exams this year and she was concerned that they faced being subjected to noise until 2am seven days a week.

Philip Proudfoot spoke about “sound leaks” late at night because the application sought a licence to host live music after 11pm 12 times a year.

Dr Proudfood said: “The issue with live music from a resident’s perspective is it makes it very difficult to enforce from an environmental health perspective because it would be intermittent 12 times a year, therefore a noise dairy would not constitute sufficient evidence and have any action taken.

“That is sentencing us to 12 sleepless nights a year, minimum. Historically, that venue has had systematic problems with sound leakage.”

Christopher Rees-Gay, for Jungle Rumble, said that the company wanted to have its own tailored bespoke licence to fit in with the golf-led business.

The existing “shadow” licence, held by the Savoy Centre’s owner, was geared more towards a night club or bar and required the use of an ID scanner.

Mr Rees-Gay said that One Under was not a drinks-led venue and had a capacity of 150 people which meant that it could not be compared to a club with up to 1,000 customers.

After representations from residents, Mr Rees-Gay said that his client would be happy to drop the live music element of the proposed licence.

The business could, if necessary, rely on the occasional temporary event notices if it wanted to host live music after 11pm.

Mr Rees-Gay also agreed that a 1am closing time would be more reasonable from Monday to Friday, with last entry at 12.30am and last orders at 12.45am.

He said: “We’re moving away from a shadow licence until 3am to a refined bespoke premises licence that focuses on a golf-led – not alcohol-led – premises which will bring positivity to Brighton.

“Jungle Rumble Limited is a premium operator. They’ve never had a premises licence reviewed or revoked.”

If the licence were to be granted, the panel was told that the “designated premises supervisor” would be Craig Derbyshire who also operates the Jungle Rumble site in Madeira Drive, Brighton.

The panel consisted of councillors Paul Nann, Joy Robinson and Tobias Sheard. They retired to make their decision which should be made public within five working days.