Issue - meetings

To consider a variation of a premises licence.

The Senior Licensing Officer gave a summary of the report which set out an application for the grant of a major variation of the licence for the Queen Victoria also known as the Jalsa Ghar Restaurant. The application had been made by Fazlul Bari Choudhury, the premises licence holder.

Condition 5, Annex 3 of the premises licence stated ‘Mr Ziaul Islam Choudhury and Mr Omar Shorif will be excluded from any involvement in the ownership and management of the business and from the premises themselves’.

The variation being sought on the application was to amend this to read: Mr Ziaul Islam Choudury and Mr Omar Shorif will be excluded from any involvement in the ownership and management of the business, Mr Omar Shorif will be excluded from the premises

Representations had been made by Essex Police in response to this application so therefore the matter had been referred to the Committee for adjudication.

The solicitor for the applicant said Mr Ziaul Islam Choudury was a family member of the licence holder and due to the issues of staffing caused by the coronavirus pandemic, was needed to help out at the premises during evenings and weekends. In order for the application to be successful it was important to satisfy the licencing objectives. There was not sufficient evidence that these had been undermined since the licence was granted in June 2019, and no evidence that it would be undermined if the condition was to be amended. Mr Ziaul Islam Choudury would not be part of the management structure of the business. The applicant would accept the new condition being time limited.

In response to a member question, the solicitor for the applicant noted that the CCTV cameras at the Queen Victoria had been upgraded shortly after the police had last visited the premises. Mr Ziaul Islam Choudury would have had no access to the CCTV at the premises.

The representative of Essex Police said the company had been one of the worst offenders for employing illegal immigrants in Essex. The applicant was the director of this company. The Police had received intelligence that Mr Zaiul Islam Choudury had attended the Queen Victoria premises on multiple occasions despite the condition that he not do so. Intelligence also suggested that Mr Zaiul Islam Choudury had been heard to laugh about preventing the Police from accessing CCTV footage.

In response to a member question, the representative from the Police said he did not know what kind of intelligence had been received. Further to this intelligence being passed to the Police, this was reported to Uttlesford District Council.

At 3.05, the Panel retired to make its decision, and invoked the right to reserve  judgement for up to 5 days.

The meeting ended at 16.00.

DECISION NOTICE – QUEEN VICTORIA/JALSA GHAR, 79 STORTFORD ROAD, DUNMOW.

(Via Zoom)

The application before the Panel today is for a major variation to the premises licence for the above address. The application is dated 20^th March 2020 and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2