The owner of a gastropub planned for the front of Churchill Square shopping centre, in Brighton, is waiting to hear whether the venue will be granted a drinks licence.
The New World Trading Company tried to persuade a Brighton and Hove City Council licensing panel that it would not add to the crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour in the area.
New World has already been granted planning permission to turn the old Top Shop store into the Botanist, part of a national chain of more than 30 gastropubs.
But the council’s licensing policy allows new pubs and clubs in the centre of Brighton only in exceptional circumstances because the area is “saturated” with licensed premises.
New World applied to serve alcohol from 9am to 2am from Thursday to Saturday and from 9am to 1am from Sunday to Wednesday.
Sussex Police and the council’s licensing department objected to the application, as did Trace Barnes, landlord of the Prince of Wales pub in Clarence Square, next to Churchill Square.
Before the hearing, at Brighton Town Hall yesterday (Thursday 2 March), the company offered to close the doors to new customers at midnight, serve drinks until 1am and close by 1.30am.
Peter Savill, for Sussex Police, told the licensing panel that the force did not object to a licence in principle but were concerned that the Botanist would operate as a late-night bar.
Mr Savill said: “The police suggested a licence be granted more akin to a restaurant-style licence, with a terminal hour for the licensable activity of midnight – and table service and alcohol service only with a substantial meal.”
Police licensing officer Mark Thorogood said that the force had raised concerns about the late licence when New World consulted the force before submitting its application in November 2021.
The main concern was that the Botanist would operate as a bar after 11pm because people would not go to a restaurant so late at night.
He said: “It is clear looking at the website that food plays a big part so why can’t food be conditioned?
“Now, with the planning application having hours reduced, we still have a couple of hours each day where it could operate as a bar which is a concern in the area.”
The company did not want to restrict the venue to “restaurant conditions”, requiring drinks to be served with food, nor to ban customers from standing and drinking.
Mr Thorogood said that Sussex Police would consider “café conditions” where substantial food must be available but remained concerned about the late hours.
Inspector Mark Redbourn said that police did not patrol the front of Churchill Square because it was private land although officers would respond to crime in the area.
Inspector Redbourn said that the police could manage the night-time economy in the Operation Marble area, covering venues in West Street and St James’s Street and on the seafront.
But another late-night venue would stretch a “finite resource” further west.
Prince of Wales landlord Trace Barnes said that the area already had three pubs – and a fourth was unnecessary.
Philip Kolvin, for New World, said that the case was about whether the Botanist would have a cumulative impact on crime and anti-social behaviour rather than whether it was a restaurant or a pub.
Mr Kolvin told the panel of three councillors that the Botanist had venues in other “cumulative impact zones” across the country, including Newcastle and Cardiff, without adding to crime or anti-social behaviour.
Bringing the Botanist to the vacant former Top Shop and Top Man site would provide an “anchor” to Churchill Square.
Mr Kolvin said: “It is proper to make an exception to the policy because of its strategic importance to Churchill Square and to Brighton’s retail area.
“The council’s strategy expressed in various places – licensing, tourism, economy, regeneration, planning, etc – is to diversify the night-time economy in Brighton and its customer base.”
Green councillor Zoe John asked if the company would “design out” drug use in the toilets given that the venue was a blank slate.
New World’s property director Tim McCormack said that the Botanist had no issues with drugs anywhere else in the country.
Sussex Police said that “high-end” venues were often those where officers were most likely to find cocaine.
Mr McCormack said that the company would be willing to accept a licence condition requiring no flat surfaces and other anti-drugs measures.
The panel retired to make its decision which should be made public within five working days.
When somebody claims that premises will be an “anchor” it is a sign that the brain has disengaged from real thought.
If you ever needed to know how ‘property developers’ act this is it. I couldn’t think of anything more ghastly than letting this happen and have drinks staggering out into the square at all hours. These people only care about profits, not a thought about our communities.
If you ever needed to know how ‘property developers’ act this is it. I couldn’t think of anything more ghastly than letting this happen. These people only care about profits, not a thought about our communities.