A seafront venue can stay open until 3.30am after agreeing conditions with police and councillors.
Dalton’s in Madeira Drive, Brighton, also secured an off-sales licence following Brighton and Hove City Council licensing hearing on Wednesday 18 December.
Off-sales, allowing people to leave the venue with alcoholic drinks, was a sticking point with Sussex Police, which had agreed terms ahead of the hearing to enable later opening.
However, the venue’s owner Madeira Leisure’s solicitor Niall McCann said there had been no issues since it started selling takeaway booze under covid rules four years ago.
During the meeting, Mr McCann said: “Since covid, with deregulation, we’ve been offering off-sales for the last four years and we’re not aware of any concerns or complaints or incidents that have come from those off-sales.
“Those off-sales are until the end of March [2025]. I suspect with the state of hospitality they may be extended. They’ve been extended before.”
In their decision, the panel of three councillors – John Hewitt, Tobias Sheard and Ollie Sykes – agreed to the compromise allowing off sales of draught beer, ciders and wines from 10am to 10pm from 2 April to 30 September and 10am to 8pm from 1 October to 1 April.
The councillors agreed there had been no issues with off-sales from the business in the four years since it was allowed.
Conditions to allow the 3.30am closing at weekends with alcohol sales until 3am will allow Dalton’s to continue operating as a “grass roots music venue”.
The panel said: ” The panel welcomes and appreciates the efforts made by the applicants and the police and licensing authority to agree a set of comprehensive conditions.
“It was clarified that the current conditions on the licence relating to prevention of public nuisance would remain.
“The panel agrees with the applicants, police and licensing authority that this application as a whole constitutes an exception to our policy due to the style of operation and is not likely to add to negative cumulative impact.”
Conditions agreed to allow for a 3.30am closing time at weekends and 12.30am the rest of the week are:
• Holding at least seven arts-led live entertainment events a week
• Not permitting standing and drinking unless at a ticketed public event or performance where standing was part of the artistic environment
• Holding no DJ-led performances, with DJ sets to make up no more than 30 per cent of the time that events are scheduled for on any single day
• The sale of alcohol to be ancillary to the premises operating as a grass roots music venue
• The premises becoming a member of the Music Venue Trust or a similar body
• The premises and its management becoming members of the Brighton Music Venue Alliance and attending its round table quarterly meetings
• Deploying at least one member of door staff from 7pm on Fridays and Saturdays until the premises close
• Closing the outside terrace at midnight daily and restricting capacity to 100 people including staff.
Fuss about nothing
Just so weird that we allow 3 people to make decisions on how a business can be run. And then ask the police for help. Come on what would the council know about running a business. They get free money all the time and are always begging for more. The police, well when they are needed for a burglar, sex crime grooming gangs. We never see them. It’s time people had more of a day in their business and council less.
Well Parliament gave local council licensing committees the powers to set licence conditions for a small range of businesses.
Previously it was magistrates who did this and it was a far less open process.
The panel isn’t telling the business how it should be run but sets a framework for the business to operate within.
I have a few friends who own bars and would laugh at your assertion that the council tells them how to run their business.
Great… they will all end up again after 4 in the nearby off licence continuing drinking, shouting, fighting and urinating on the streets! We should go back to early closures to avoid the already rising antisocial behaviour. The venue have security but these people mostly end up causing trouble somewhere nearby to the annoyance of the locals.