Licensing Sub-Committee - Tuesday 21 October 2025, 7:00pm - Wandsworth Council Webcasting

Licensing Sub-Committee
Tuesday, 21st October 2025 at 7:00pm 

Agenda

Slides

Transcript

Map

Resources

Forums

Speakers

Votes

 
Share this agenda point

I'm happy to nominate.
Agreed.
Thank you, everyone. Welcome to this meeting of the licencing subcommittee, which is being held virtually.
The meeting is being webcast and please bear with us if there are any technical issues.
My name is Councillor Routhroj and I'm chairing this meeting.
I will now invite the councillors, followed by the officers, to introduce themselves.
If the other attendees could please introduce themselves as and when they are asked to speak,
which might be easier considering there are two applications here.
So can I start with the councillors first?
Sure. I'm Councillor Mayorkas, Councillor for Trinity Ward in Teating and Ballum.
And evening everybody. I'm Councillor Guy Humphries, the Councillor for Southfield in Putney.
Thank you. I'll now just ask the officers how they appear on my screen. So, Ms Hopkins first.
Oh, hello there. I'm Anthony Hopkins. I'm the Director of Culture, Sport and Libraries for the London Borough of Britain.
Sorry, there's two Hopkins, isn't there? Sorry. I've blown it straight away. Apologies. Sorry, Julie.
that's okay. I'm Julie Hopkins and I'm a licencing officer. Thank you. Thank you. Miss Ritchie?
And Mr Bishop? Guy Bishop, the legal advisor to the subcommittee. Thank you everyone. Are there
any apologies for absence or declarations of interest for any of the items on the agenda?
I'll take that as a no, so thank you. We will now consider the first application on the agenda for
variation to a premises licence in respect to the premises known as Wimbledon Park, Wimbledon Park
Road, London SW 19 6 PE and I now invite the licencing officer to introduce the application.
Thank you Councillor. The London Borough of Merton have applied to Wandsworth Council for
new premises licence for Wimbledon Park, Wimbledon Park Road, London, SW19 6PE for the sale of alcohol
for consumption on and off the premises, the provision of regulated entertainment for plays,
films, live music, recorded music, performances of dance and anything of a similar description
between the hours 11am until 11pm Monday to Sundays with a closure time of 11 .30pm.
During the consultation period, the applicant withdrew the sale of alcohol for consumption off the premises aspects of the application and is now applying for the sale of alcohol for consumption on the premises only
and has also clarified that the application was not for an all year round blanket licence for events in the park but is only for the Merton Council's annual fireworks event.
The applicant further clarified that they have applied for each day of the week as dependent on the date each year the event would be held on a different day.
The application was advertised as required under the legislation with multiple site notices placed around Wimbledon Park and with a newspaper advert placed in the Wimbledon and ones with times published on the 18th of September 2025.
This resulted in the receipt of five valid representations from other persons.
These representations are the only matter for consideration tonight.
However, since the report was written, two representations have been withdrawn, so there are now three left for consideration.
Appendix A to the report lays out the conditions arising from the applicant's operating schedule,
including those agreed with the Metropolitan Police and with the council's trading standards officer, which will become conditions of the licence if it is granted.
Appendix B to the report lays out the proposed hours for this licence.
I refer the subcommittee to paragraphs 12 to 14 and 16 to 17 of the committee report
which outlines the options that are open to you when deciding this new application.
Councillors, I've laid out the brief facts of the application.
I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms Hopkins. Does the subcommittee have any questions for the licencing officer?
I can see no questions from the subcommittee so I'll now go on to um are there any other
questions of clarification on anything that has been stated as a reminder both the applicant
and representations will have a chance to address the subcommittee and this should only
be where you would like clarification on something that Miss Hopkins has just stated.
Yes, Ms Harrison.
I understand this is for fireworks, therefore my confusion is that it talks about plays and films.
And Dazs. Would that be normal at the fireworks?
If that's okay, Ms Harrison, Daz is going to give us a quick presentation in a minute and then
yeah we can move on and then you have your chance to speak as well later on. Thank you.
There's no other questions for clarification on what Ms Hopkins instead and we'll now move on.
So I'll now invite the applicant Daz Goren from Merton to introduce themselves and to address
subcommittee and you will have five minutes to speak after which questions may be asked of you.
So Mr Daz I'll welcome you. I'm just going to quickly get my timer up and then I'll let you know.
Well I'll start mine as well. Okay thank you, thank you Councillor. Good evening everyone,
Chair members, Councillors and Sheila and Christopher. Daz Giron here. I'm the Head of
cultural events at Merton Council.
And I'm here today on behalf of
the borough as the applicant for
the premises licence for
the annual fireworks event at Wimbledon Park.
Sorry, before I go further, I have
some cold symptoms that I might splutter a bit,
but apologies for that in advance.
This event has a long -standing place
in the local community calendar,
attracting residents of all ages and backgrounds from
across the boroughs of Wandsworth and Merton
to enjoy a safe, well -managed,
and celebratory event. Our intention in applying for this licence is to ensure that the event
continues to be delivered responsibly and in full compliance with the licencing objectives.
Before I go into some detail regarding the event planning, I'll take a minute to describe the
actual format of the event for those not familiar with it, including content, attractions and timings
etc. The event is the same model each year where we have two separate days on the same,
displays on the same day.
And as well as the fireworks themselves,
there is a fairground,
street food and bar concessions,
and background music between the displays.
The event is ticketed and the site enclosed.
Expected audience numbers,
including staff, will be 14 ,000 per display.
And the running order of the day is as follows.
In terms of the event opening,
we have gates open at 5 .15,
6 .45 is the first fireworks display, the pyrotechnic display, usually 16, around 16 and a half minutes
in duration, set to a musical score through the PA system. And then we have gates for the second
show at 7 .15. And at that point attendees from the first display are leaving. And at 8 .30 we then fire
the second display show for another 60 and a half minutes.
And then the two final timings at 10 PM,
the fun fair closes and at 1030,
the concession is closed.
And by 11 PM,
the site is clear and the surrounding areas.
Back to the planning and the consultation processes.
It should be noted that the Borough boundary line
for Wandsworth and Merton,
falls through the centre of the park, the event location.
As the bars are located on the Wandsworth side,
then technically licencing of the event is
administered by Wandsworth Council.
This event is professionally organised by
the Merton Council Events Team with the support of
key authorities such as the Met Police,
London Fire Brigade, LAS,
London Ambulance Service, and the Council's
Environmental Health and Licencing Teams,
and local residents groups to ensure that all safety and environmental measures are
appropriate and effective.
Event safety management documentation is successfully reviewed each year by the above teams as members
of the safety advisory group.
We fully recognise the importance of the licencing objectives and these principles are embedded
in our event safety management plans.
In terms of the hours and days of the week applied for, for this event the park and the
are ordinarily of the event attendees by 10 .45, 11 p .m.
For operational and planning purposes,
we have a built -in contingency with the closing time.
So that factors in unforeseen delays
to the displays that can happen.
For example, a change in direction,
speed of wind for a period of time.
The start times applied for give us an option
in the future to open earlier, especially on weekend dates
where the fun fair concessions, low impact entertainment,
and attractions can be accommodated. In terms of the days of the week applied
for, then as Julie set out earlier, then that is purely down to the date we
choose each year, ID on or as close to the 5th of November. In terms of
representations throughout the consultation period we have engaged
with all parties that have made representations, all of which were
residents and three remain. In terms of the conditions of the licence, we have
with their responsible authorities and have agreed reasonable and proportionate conditions
to be added to the licence by the Met Police Licencing Team, Wandsworth Trading Standards
and a local residents group. We believe that this popular and established event offers
a safe inclusive environment that the boroughs of Merton and Wandsworth can be proud of.
We respectfully ask the subcommittee to grant the premises licence to enable the continued
safe and successful running of the Wimbledon Park fireworks event. Thank you chair.
Thank you Mr Geren. Does the subcommittee have any questions for the applicant?
Councillor Humphries. Thank you chair, I'm just going to work out how to put my hand down, there
Thank you, Mr. Gerene, that was helpful and I appreciate your responsible sounding attitude
to approach this kind of thing as a local council in the Wandsworth side.
I'm obviously very familiar with the events and I appreciate that it's a big attraction
for a lot of people from a wide area.
I had one specific concern that I wanted you to answer for me if you could.
I was looking through in Appendix A the projected conditions that you referred to and on the
last page of those, I'm just trying to find it myself, yeah on page 13 of our bundle anyway,
you've got a restriction on the licence point 53 and 54. Now I just wanted to get some clarification
on the reason why on 54,
it says the licenced holders to ensure that SIA personnel patrol
the external perimeter of the park,
specifically South Dean Gardens and Wimbledon Park Road,
which I don't get me wrong,
I think that's a very good idea.
But I wondered why there wasn't a similar instruction
for the other main entrance to the park,
which is used by the visitors entrance B at the top of Revelstoke Road,
because I know that again in the past has been a bottleneck of particular
issues and particularly with traffic and such like in things like that. So I
wondered why one was applicable and not the other. Yes thank you Councillor.
Indeed on the three entrance and exit points to the park itself and the
surrounding roads we do have external security stewarding and traffic
management measures. This is a particular request from the resident groups, a group
of South Dean to do those roads as a condition and of course we've added that to our planning.
That's great but it doesn't address my point about the same issues at the other entrance,
specifically the Revelstoke Road one which I know both on the Merton side and the Womynham
Park grid and on the Wandsworth side on the South Park grid.
Happy to go into the detail there. Revelstoke Road, again with the famous borough line that
cuts through the park and that actually splits Revelstoke Road in two. So I think in previous
years before my time, it's always been a bit of an issue with illegal street trading on
Revelstoke Road where the traders will stand on the Wonsmith side and not on the Merton
side and obviously that's a busy entrance and exit for us. So each year we
make improvements and we took stock of last year the feedback and watched
things on the ground for the first time properly. It's the first year me and my
team took over this event and made some improvements and we've put some
additional measures in this year. First time we put CCTV on the entrances and
exits that's never happened before for this event and we've got direct fees
into our control room where we can deploy resources necessary. We've got
additional road closures going in on Revelstoke Road which will help the flow
of traffic around there, reduce illegal parking and we're finally to help that
congestion that's caused by illegal street traders before. We're doing some
joint approach work with Wandsworth, Merton and the police to make sure those
in the interest of public safety, those traders have moved on because that was an ongoing issue
at that part. Great, thank you, that's reassuring, but you're not suggesting deploying your SIA
personnel there, you're going to rely on the CCTV and whatever are you? Oh no, 100 percent, we have
We have a proportionate and robust deployment of SIA security personnel and event stewards.
And also we've got a dedicated externals manager this year for each of the main entrance and gates as well to help.
Great, thank you.
but presumably then in that case you wouldn't mind if we add those streets into the address on that
point on 54 so that we've just got it down there as a informative for the public who might want to
look it up and see what the restrictions and such like are. I think it might be helpful for the
benefit of the reassurance of the residents and again one of the reasons why Mrs Harrison is
keen to have her end as well which I appreciate it's a similar situation at that side of the park
as well. No I understand and also obviously will be the letter the letter
drop started today if it wasn't today I'd be going out tomorrow for all the
residents giving all the timings and all the new traffic management measures
we're putting into place this year to help improve things on on the
surrounding roads. Thank you. Thank you Councillor Humphries.
um councilman Yorkwood. Thank you chair um sorry if I'm I've missed something but so
this is for the event this year is that correct? It's for um a permanent licence for this event
yes council. Which includes this year. Yeah but it would include this year? Yes. And is there a date
for it this year? Yep it's Saturday the 8th of November. So just because in Appendix A,
I guess so has notification already been given for this year? Yes. Okay I'm just concerned,
not concerned sorry, confused by the timeline because if the licence hasn't been granted and
then the two month stipulation is a condition of the licence. I don't know how that would have worked.
That specific condition would be firm 2026 onwards.
Okay, okay so maybe it needs changing to say that. And what, under what licence was it held in last year for example?
Premises licence via Merton Council. So with the advice from the regulatory advisory services,
which obviously is Tri -Borough between Wandsworth, Merton and Richmond, we advise going forward
better because technically the bulk of the event sits on the Wandsworth side. So
we took that course as advised.
Okay, okay yeah just because we've had experience in
in ones within the past year or so of like
catch -all licences being applied for and causing the
kind of concern that has been caused by this. I
I just yeah if there's a way to avoid that in future and perhaps it's
just a quirk of the system itself but having to apply for something on every
day of all hours seems like a quirk let's say. Yes so we've actually we're
really keen now and started some working groups and multi -agency groups to see
how this communication between Merton and Wandsworth can be improved in future
years. That whole process of who applies for licence when because obviously
Merton we managed the park the Wimbledon Park we managed and we approve events
coming in but at the moment all the licencing obviously goes through the Wandsworth side.
So yeah there's some grey areas that need to be owned out going forward which we're
being proactive both sides of the council are. Sorry one more question chair, if obviously with
it being permanent is there any consideration on what will happen vis -a -vis the development of the
I personally don't see how that would affect things but maybe I'll hand over to my colleague Anthony who might have a view on that because he's more across the LTEC development as my director.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Daz. I'll introduce myself at the correct time now so apologies for earlier. I'm Anthony Hopkins, I'm the Director of Culture, Sport and Libraries for London Borough of Merton.
And from the initial review of the development process plans for the Eltech development,
there's no impact in the field area of which this fireworks display would take place.
And so we don't anticipate any impact or changes in terms of the plans and the way in which we deliver the fireworks at present.
Thank you, Councillor Mayorkas, for your questions. You've asked some of the questions that I had in my mind.
Are there any other questions from the councillors before we move on?
I can see no further questions. Miss Harrison, I do see your hand up.
I'm just going to come on to you next.
So just as a reminder, any questions that you have should be questions of clarification on anything
Mr Guren has just said, you will get your chance to speak coming up next. So do you have any
questions on clarifications? So I'm not sure it's a clarification but I do understand that the
residents of South Dean Gardens did ask specifically for security because last year there was quite
a queue or a lot of wall jumping going on at Gartmore Gardens and the bottom of South
Dean Gardens and I think that was quite distressing for the people who lived very close to that
area and I think that was part of the, my understanding was from the residents association,
that was part of the reason why there was enhanced security being, I don't know, sought
or suggested or has been arranged for our specific roads is what I'm understanding.
So Councillor Humphries was correct that I think there was a slightly different issue in our area
but I'm not sure if that's 100 % or it's just part of it. Yeah thank you Sheila. Yeah indeed
I actually met with the residents to look at the government guard's issues from last year and we
put some more measures in place. Specifically, historically, people have
been able to jump over a very high fence, high wall, that accesses the part from
Garble Gardens. So we're bolstering up the fence with panels and securing that
fence and there'll be dedicated security there. And also we have CCT, that's going
for further peace of mind for that area.
Thank you, Mr. Ergeron. I will now move on to Ms Harrison. So several reputations have been
withdrawn and we have two remaining. I will now invite those making representations, which is
Sheila Harrison, to introduce themselves and to address the subcommittee. You will have five
minutes to speak after which questions may be asked to you. Over to you, Ms Harrison.
Okay so I'm Sheila Harrison, I'm one of the residents of South Dean Gardens in Southfields
and I was slightly alarmed at the application that went in. I'm quite happy with the fireworks
as it is, it seems quite a well organised event, however it was my concern that this application
was a potentially, I think, Councillor Mayorkas has alluded to this, that it might be a
a catch -all licence if that's what he was meaning to, meaning that it seems to be. If
this is just for fireworks, then why was it for all year round? And I'm also a little
bit perturbed at the hours from 11 o 'clock in the morning till 11 o 'clock at night. And
I know that Mr Gerens suggested that this might be because if it was held on a weekend
they might have longer days because of the fares. However, I don't think it's going to
a longer day this week or this coming weekend and it is a Saturday and I'm not sure that the
firework display does go from 11 till 11 on those weekend events but obviously happy for some
clarification on that. So it is really my concern is that you've put an application in this is for
the whole year from 11 in the morning till 11 at night and I know that Merton had suggested in
in the past that they would like to have more festivals held in this park and that is primarily
my concern and that if you look at this licence and exclude the firework and it might be any
fireworks could be held as part of any festival or such that it could cover more than just the
fireworks. I've had some information from Julie Hopkins at Merton and also I've had
some information from Marianna, I think it was yourself, who have suggested that there's
going to be –
Sorry, Miss Harrington, did you mean from Wandsworth Council and not Merton?
Not so much.
Well, no, I've had quite a little bit of correspondence from Merton, various people,
somebody called Julie Hopkins.
Yes, we're merchant employees but we work as a tribe bearer.
Oh sorry, so they have,
merchant team events have clarified something about the licence and they've wanted to put in
some agreed wording. I'm assuming you have that there or not at the meeting.
I'm really here to ensure that the wording goes in about a time limited
annual fireworks event and suggesting that it will be only limited to one
calendar day per year and that it also has specific conditions that each year
should require a new application and consultation, security to control the
perimeter areas of Wimbledon Park Road and South Dean Gardens and residents
association to be given contact details for the supervision and event two weeks
in advance. So that's my concern. If those are going to be part of the licence I'm
quite happy for it to go ahead but I think it needs to be very specific about
it taking place in the months of October and November and just for the firework
display. Again I was slightly concerned about the dance, film and plays and that
suggests that it's a catch -all for various sorts of licences and the
licence of alcohol either it's for 5 .15 until later on or why would it be
starting at 11 a .m. in the morning. That's a slight discrepancy in what's
I think here or I mean I'm not sure why you should have a licence for 11am in the morning.
alcohol
I think that's about it.
Thank you Miss Harrison. I'll just go over to Miss Hopkins really quickly because he has her hands up.
Thank you for that. No I was just going to clarify the condition, the first condition on Appendix A actually states that the provision of licence or activities
is authorised by this licence that we should time limited to a one day per calendar year
for the purposes of holding the public fireworks display. The event should take place only in the
months of October and November. Thank you for clarifying. Does the subcommittee have any
questions for Ms Harrison? Thank you, I see no questions for the subcommittee so we'll now move
on to the next stage which is are there any other questions of clarification
anything that has been stated so Mr. Gurnan or Mr. Hopkins do you have any
questions for Miss Harrison? Questions of clarification again. Hi there, thank you
Councillor, hi Sheila, just to clarify a couple of points you mentioned as well
Julie's defined that fireworks event only application just in terms of the
films and plays. That's really, as well as a musical score, in the future. For
example, Merton Council was just embarked on a three -year cultural
programme and we're funded by the GLA to bolster and encourage and develop arts
and culture in the borough over a three -year period. And events like this
do give us an opportunity to integrate some creative elements from all our
great arts and cultural organisations from around the borough.
And they can be theatrical performances on the stage in front of the fireworks.
There could be a live music school.
There could be a film on screen set to music with display.
So it's a catch -all application in that sense,
just so we can have that option in the future to develop those,
those elements we think would always benefit the show, not to trap from it.
Thank you.
I will now invite each party to provide any closing remarks they would like to submit.
This should be, oh, Councillor Humphries.
Thank you, Jess. Sorry, diving in at the last minute before you go.
No, that's okay.
Just a query from following on from what Ms Harrison said actually about the hours of operation.
So as she said, I'm slightly perplexed as to why we're offering to start at 11 o 'clock in the
morning when the event isn't open to the public at that stage. So again, just again for future
proofing and things like that. Why have we said 11 o 'clock? Sure, thank you Councillor. Yeah,
just to finish on that one, in the future if we did explore extending the hours of the event,
We have put 11 o 'clock as a start time.
There's some precedent in other big scope and scale fireworks displays in London like
Battersea Park and Alexandra Palace where the concessions, fun fair and small attractions,
light entertainment on a weekend, on a Saturday could start at lunchtime.
So we've just given ourselves that broader range if we decide to explore that route in the future.
Okay, I have to say I find that slightly concerning because what we're agreeing to tonight is specifically for the event as we know it.
I think if it were to change, it might perhaps be something where you come back and ask for a variation on the licence to start it earlier once you have some more specific plans in mind, perhaps?
Nothing specific at the moment, no.
I agree with that.
I think it's a bit too blanket to say, okay, 11 o 'clock now when the current process of
the event isn't going to start at that kind of time.
So we're kind of opening the doors a little bit there perhaps, aren't we, to the event
changing and the impact on residents being more significant.
The hours of the event were to change under the aegis that it's okay because we've already
agreed to 11 o 'clock.
What I was suggesting was that we could have a perhaps a later start time set.
Then if you wanted to vary that licence, you'd come back when you had some specific plans
for the event perhaps to open up later in the future, earlier in the future.
Okay noted.
Thank you, Councillor.
That's one for the committee to consider, I guess.
Thank you, Councillor Humphries.
Councillor Milkers.
I mean this we're getting into the the week table I mean would it be an option to amend or introduce
the condition whereby if the event does fall on a weekend then there are certain hours and if it
falls on a weekday there are certain hours could be a compromised solution. That sounds sensible,
thank you. Thank you I think that's definitely a point that we can pick up when we're making
our decision. Thank you. I will now invite each party to provide any closing remarks they would
like to submit. This should be limited to a maximum of two minutes. I will first invite
Ms Harrison who's making the representation followed by the applicant to address the
licencing subcommittee. So Ms Harrison. So my comments are as before I would like to
ask because this is not, this isn't been brought up at all. I've got it in writing from a couple
people about the statements that I made about the time -limited annual fireworks event. There's
a greed wording that's going to go on to the licence. That hasn't been discussed or mentioned
and I'm slightly concerned that I've got this writing from Julie Hopkins and I think it also
came through from Marianna Ritchie as well. I might be wrong in the name of that as to what these
greed wording was going to be specified on this one -day licence situation. I do have concerns,
as Councillor Humphries has mentioned, about starting at 11 in the morning and I think
that was not what was displayed or advertised in the application and so
the guarantees that were given to the residents
were that it was only for the event as it is going on now and then they were
going to put in place these certain things that have been mentioned
in steps one to three such as the security and each event require a new
application. That was point one is that each event should require a new
application and consultation and I don't hear that being discussed right now and
The other thing is that I think that it should just be for as is now.
I don't think we should have it to be varying depending on whether it's the weekend or whatever at the moment we have.
Or through the summer, we've had week events most weekends and it's quite disturbing.
And then to have another whole weekend of fireworks, I think requires different advertising potentially,
different application is what I think because I think that's a bit too much of a catch -all situation.
Thank you Ms Harrison, that's your two minutes. Did any of the officers want to quickly jump in
or I can move on to the final speaker? No, thank you. Mr Gurnan, I now invite you to make your
closing remarks. Thank you councillor. Chair members, thank you for your time and
careful consideration of this application. We fully appreciate the
importance of ensuring that any licenced event in the public space like Wimbledon
Park is managed with the highest regard for safety, community impact and the
licencing objectives. Our aim is to deliver a well -organised inclusive
fireworks event that remains a popular community asset while maintaining full
compliance with all licencing requirements. We have worked closely with
the relevant authorities including the police, environmental health to develop a
comprehensive event management plan. The Wimbledon fireworks have long
been a varied community tradition bringing people together in a safe
managed environment and by holding the event under a premises licence we can
ensure that all aspects of the evening are professionally controlled, risk
assessed and accountable. We believe this application strikes the right balance
between community benefits and responsible management.
Measures in place will uphold all four licencing objectives
and ensure that the event remains a positive, safe
and inclusive experience for everyone involved.
For these reasons, I respectfully ask the subcommittee
to grant this licence.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Just to clarify, Ms. Harrison,
I just want you to know that the licencing subcommittee,
we have been setting the applications
and all of the conditions.
so we have all read it and seen it so it might seem like we're not discussing all the points
that you're raising but as Councillors we have read it and we will take everything into account
when we make our decision. So just to clarify that for you. Can I just ask that the, because
I'm just trying to find all my emails right now, so the applicant, so I've had an email from
Julie Hopkins saying that they specifically have agreed wording to be put on to any licence granted
Is that the case?
Thank you, can I just bring in Mr Bishop now, if that's okay?
There are conditions that have been offered in the application, and as I understand it, there have been conditions that have been extracted from that.
Julie will correct me if that's the case, is my understanding.
No, that's correct. The three issues were, as it's the time limited fireworks event,
So that cancels out that each event should require a new application and consultation because it is just for the fireworks, this licence application.
Security to control the perimeter area of Wimbledon Park and South Dean Gardens, that is a condition and that is a condition number 54 on the committee report.
and the residents association be given contact details of the supervision of an event two weeks in advance.
That's number 53 of the committee report.
So those three conditions have, well four actually, so the three conditions have been, they're on the committee report.
So each event will require a new application and consultation, it will be on their licence, is that correct?
Well by default this licence is just for the fireworks event so they could not use it for anything else.
If they wanted to do another event they would need to apply for a licence for that event
so it wouldn't be a condition because this is just for the fireworks event. Mr. Bishop have I got this?
Yes, this is a time limited fireworks event once a year that is to take place in October or November but it's only on one day.
And that's set, that's what the application is, it's not for anything more than that.
OK, so at the moment the application is from 11 till 11 and that's not what's running at the moment?
No, the hours are 11 to 11 for the one day event.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr Bishop.
And we've done we've done closing, so. Yeah, sorry. Thank you, Mr Bishop, and thank you, Miss Hopkins.
So that now concludes the first application.
After we have considered the second application, we will retire to a separate confidential
meeting room to make the decision where only members of the licencing subcommittee, the
democratic services officer and legal advisor will be present.
The decision reasons and any legal guidance given during the subcommittee's discussions
that has informed the decision will be confirmed in writing together with information about
any rights of appeals within five working days.
Thank you to those for attending the Wimbledon Park application.
You may now leave the meeting.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
We will now consider the application on the agenda for a variation to a premises licence in respect of the premises known as Rhine 258 Battersea Park Road, London SW11 3BP.
And I now invite the licencing officer to introduce the application.
Thank you, Councillor. Rhind Holdings Ltd have applied to Wandsworth Council for a new premises licence for Rhind at 258 Battersea Park Road, London, SW11 3BP.
For the sale of alcohol for the consumption on and off the premises, the provision of regulated entertainment, live music, recorded music and for late night refreshment.
Appendix B of the report provides the full timings for the activities being applied for.
The application was advertised as required under the legislation with a site notice at the premises and with a newspaper advert in the South London Weekly published on the 22nd of August 2025.
This resulted in the receipt of two valid representations from other persons.
These representations are the only matter for consideration tonight.
Appendix A of the report lays out the conditions arising from the applicant's operating schedule,
including those agreed with the Metropolitan Police and with the Council's Trading Standards Officer.
These will become conditions of the licence if it is granted.
Appendix B to the report lays out the proposed hours for this licence.
Councillors, the options that are open to you tonight when deciding this new application include
granting the application as requested or modifying the conditions of the licence,
alter or omit conditions or add new or reject the whole or part of the application.
Councillors, I have laid out the brief facts of this application but I'll be happy to answer
any questions you may have. Thank you. Thank you, Ms Hopkins. Does the subcommittee have any questions?
Not from me. Thank you. So we'll now move on to the applicant. Do you have any questions
or clarifications on anything Miss Hopkins has just said?
Oh that's Christopher gave us you if you have any questions for Miss Hopkins on clarifications.
No that's okay don't be.
If there are no questions, I will now invite the applicant Christopher Gay to introduce themselves and to address the subcommittee.
You'll have five minutes to speak after which questions may be asked of you. Over to you.
Thank you. Hi Chair, members of the subcommittee. I'm Chris Gay. I am founder of Rhine, speaking on behalf of Rhine Holdings.
Rhine is a small, high quality wine, cheese and charcuterie bar. It's a food -like concept designed to bring something calm,
local and unique to the back seat and not a late night bar or drinking venue.
Our focus is on artisanal, sorry, produce wines, cheese and charcuterie sauce from independent
suppliers serving the relaxed seating, seated sitting.
We have space for around 32 guests and close I believe at 11pm.
I think I might have put 2am, the first licence from Friday and Saturday, but I think I've
sort of spoke to a few people and that's now changed to 11pm.
when asking for a late licence or late trading.
There's also no extraction because there's no kitchen,
so no noise in the back of the restaurant where there's an alley where there's adjacent houses.
Built rind with the local community in mind, our operating style and proposed conditions directly address noise, nuisance and safety concerns.
Key measures include background level music only.
We will probably have live music but it won't be amplified.
It'll just be like acoustic guitars or sort of like small percussion bands, like nothing loud.
Doors and windows kept closed after 9pm.
Clear signage asking customers to leave quietly.
Staff trained in responsible alcohol service, obviously Challenge 25.
All deliveries and waste collections during the hours of 9 .11pm and also 9am at 11am in the morning.
Our aim is to operate responsibly and enhance the local area and not contribute to any nuisance.
There was no in it five minutes.
No, you're great, thank you. I just had a question on clarification just to confirm
you said that you're going to be amending the times on Friday to 11 pm.
Well there was, I basically, I have the farmer's mistress which is just down the road and have a
licence till 2 am there on Friday and Saturday so I basically just went with the same licence
hours for there because I didn't have any objections to that one that all went through
fine. So I went with the same hours for there and I had obviously I think four or five objections
with three of them. I've spoken to three of them, they've taken the objection away.
So that's too outstanding. I believe that they had issues with the licence of being
2am, so I have said that I'm happy to change Friday and Saturday to 11pm and I believe
Sunday in Wandsworth Council, I believe it's 9 .30, which is the latest time, which I'd
put on the licence 2am which I didn't realise wasn't correct but I have spoken to the residents
and I have said that you know if that is an issue of being a late light on Friday and Saturday I'm
happy to do 11pm. Basically the reason why I did that sort of 2am was because once an hour and
again I might have an event you know we might have something that runs over time rather than trying
to get a variant every time that I have an event or you know something goes over time by sort of
10 minutes maybe I did put in that 2am licence just in case I didn't want to sort of break any
laws. So that's basically the reason why I did that.
Thank you for clarifying. Does any member of the subcommittee have any questions for the applicant?
Councillor Humphries.
Thank you, Chair. And don't be too nervous. You're doing fine. It's easy for us. We do it all the time. I appreciate it's daunting for you, but we're only here to make your business more of a success and work well. So please understand where we're coming from as well.
So I understand. Thank you. Thank you for that clarification about the 11 o 'clock.
And it's very honest of you to say why you've come to that change.
And I think, as you say, I welcome the fact that you've made the effort to reach out to those residents and
and I'm sure that I'll stand you in good stead going ahead with your business to have them more on the side and stuff like that.
So well done. I did have one quick query about that.
You did on the application have late hours at New Year's and Christmas.
And I wondered if you wanted to have a thoughts about that to keep those because that's not
totally unreasonable at those times of year to have later hours on things like that.
But I want you to pop off more than you meant to pop off and your willingness to be cooperative.
So that's one thing I think you have a little think about if you've got a chance.
Yeah, I mean, I'm not looking to open up Christmas anyway.
But New Year's might be a thing.
Again, it's we're not a place where people are going to come and, you know, drink silly
and get absolutely ham and it's going to be a place where people are going to be relaxed,
you're going to have a nice drink at midnight, they might have a cheers and sort of everyone gets
happy and they go home, it's not going to be a place like a pub or something where you know,
people are going to get very drunk, it's gonna be a place for people of Battersea that you know,
that I'm not sure I have to have to say this properly but people that won't just go and get
drunk. So yeah, possibly New Year but yeah, Christmas this year I'm definitely not opening,
I've already, I've already decided my hours but I do think that New Year you know, could be a quite,
could be quite a good thing for me and also for Battersea residents.
Like, you know, it's, it's, it's a nice place to go. Um, yeah, I, I,
I think I would keep that in if, if I'm honest.
Yeah. Great. No, no, not, not saying you should, absolutely saying you should,
you should rather than you shouldn't.
I thought you were generous with what you're offering to give away before you
start.
No, no.
Cool. Thank you.
Thank you. Councillor Mayorkas.
Um, my only question was what sort, I mean, what in relation to music, what sort, what
would that look like?
So I mean, the music we've got is just sort of obviously, um, speaker system. I've, I've
already spoken to the guys above who live above me because there was a shot before,
so no music really in there. So we've put a new speaker system in, but I've already
turned up to 95 % max and, um, they have no issues with that. So spoken to the guys above
already. So that's fine with that. In terms of live music, again, just like I said earlier,
it was sort of just like, it's a very, very small site. It's tiny. It's only sort of 800 square foot
that you can use for people to sit in. So it's not very big. So it would just be live music with
no acoustics. So just like, sorry, like an acoustic guitar or like, yeah, nothing that
needs a speaker, for example, nothing that's going to sort of, you know, hit any loud decibels, just
just live music, just very chilled. Yeah, it's a wine break at the end of the day,
it just needs to be sort of cool and calm and relaxed and yeah, no one jumping on tables.
Yeah, hopefully. And how long has it been open?
Well, we've been open for three weeks, but the first week is obviously I've had issues with the
licence. I was just doing a bring your own bottle and we were just doing that for the first week,
just trying to get people of Battersea coming in and just seeing what we're going to be doing.
And for the last two weeks now, I think we've had the temporary licence and I've only had
good feedback.
I've opened, I'm a chef by trade.
I've been a chef for 17 years.
I've lived in London for 14 of those.
I've opened up quite a few restaurants now with other people.
I do a lot of consulting for restaurants and I've always had people coming into restaurants
before they're even open when they're building sites saying this was not going to do well.
Like, you know, this is not a good thing and I've only had good feedback from people at
Battersea so far.
I also live in the area.
live 300B Battersea Park Road, so just literally 14 doors down. It's also not a thing that I want
people sort of getting drunk and you know doing all sorts of stuff outside my house,
but yeah that's you know it's supposed to be a nice place for Battersea residents you know that
the road's a nice road but it's missing a little bit of something so I really thought that this was
going to be like a like a nice addition to the area basically. I see you've got only five star
reviews on Google so far. So I'm not going to lie four of them in my family, but yeah,
the rest don't say that I'm an honest man, I'm an honest man, baby, to be fair. If you,
I've just put this in as well. If you, if you sort of look at my other business, I've
got the farmer's mistress, um, me and my business partner had that before I bought her out in
November last year. Um, we've got a two M licence to end licence there on sat Friday
Saturdays. Never ever had a problem, not had any issues with the police, not had any complaints
from anyone. Yeah, so literally $14 up the road and I didn't see it being an issue. So that's
obviously why I put those hours in. Thank you, Mr. Bishop. I see how you end up.
It was just a clarification again to help the committee really. I think you talked earlier
about, you know, the need for a later licence occasionally. How many times a year do you think
you would need that later licence? I mean, I would probably say maybe 10 times a year,
15 times a year. I mean, I would hope as business grows, I would hope that, you know, we get more,
you know, it does get busy and we get more parties. But again, it's not the type of place
where people, it's going to be loud music, people drinking. It will still, it will be a place where
people were just going to come and drink expensive wine and just have a good time.
The only reason I put 2am in is because like I said, I've got one at Farmers Michigan,
it never needs to be a place where, you know, there's a DJ and stuff.
It was just there as that was, I know that sort of the latest time that you could apply for.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Any other questions from councillors?
So several representations have been withdrawn, but none of the representations have actually
confirmed tonight so no one else is here. So I'll go back to you Mr Gere, if you have any
closing remarks that you would like to submit, they should be limited to a maximum of two minutes,
so when you're ready. Yeah, I'm very passionate about creating a well -managed high quality venue
complements Battersea Park Road. We want to be focused, responsibly run and considerate of
neighbours. We've built the concept around community, calmness and quality, not noise or
nightlife. Yeah obviously I've spoke to all the residents that I've reached out to everyone,
I've reached out to the guys that live above me. I've done my best I believe to try and speak to
everyone and make everyone happy. Obviously I've still got two objections and yeah I'm hoping that
committee will sort of take my hearing into play, I guess.
Thank you very much for attending tonight. So that now concludes this discussion.
The Councillors subcommittee will retire to a separate confidential meeting room to make
the decision where only members of the licencing subcommittee, Democratic Service Officer and legal
advisor will be present. The decision reasons and any legal guidance given during the subcommittee's
discussion that has informed the decision will be confirmed in writing together with
information about any rights of appeals within five working days. So thank you very much
for attending Mr. Gay. You can now leave the meeting and have a lovely evening. Thank you.
You are brilliant. Thank you very much.