Following an earlier post on the licencing enforcement to prevent drinking outside the Duke's Head I wrote an e-mail to WBC in support of the licencee. For those interested, here is the reply I received today which goes someway to clarify the situation. Dear Mr Cochran, Dukes Head, 8 Lower Richmond Road, London Sw15 1JN Thank you for your recent e-mail in which you raise concerns over the fact that the Council had banned patrons of the Dukes Head Public House from taking drinks onto the Embankment.  The Council took over the responsibility for licensing premises for the consumption of alcohol in 2005.  At that time the licensee sought to vary the licence for the Dukes Head to increase the hours for the sale of alcohol and to provide regulated entertainment.  As part of this process the applicant was required to describe steps to be taken to promote the four licensing objectives laid down in the Licensing Act 2003 of prevention of crime and disorder, public safety, prevention of public nuisance and the protection of children from harm.  These measures would be turned into conditions and attached to the licence if it was granted.  In the case of the Dukes Head the applicant stated that ‘no drinks shall be taken off site apart from off-sales’.  The variation application was granted and hence a condition was attached to the licence to state that ‘open containers shall not be taken from the premises’. In May 2006, the licensee sought to vary the licence to alter the layout of the premises to include a further two trading areas.  No application was made to remove or amend the conditions of the licence at that time. Officers of this division carry out enforcement visits to licensed premises targeted to problem areas/premises, to high risk premises or events, to premises where it is believed that trading is taking place without the necessary licence and to premises where complaints have been received.  In the case of the Dukes Head a visit was carried out following the receipt of a complaint.  At the time of the visit a number of breaches of the licence conditions were noted.  These were brought to the attention of the licensee. The licensee has now sought to vary the licence to, amongst other matters, allow for the sale of alcohol in open plastic containers off the premises.  The application is currently out to consultation.  If representations are received then the matter will be considered by the Licensing Sub Committee of the Council.  If no representations are received then the application will be approved under the delegated authority of the Head of Environmental Services and Community Safety (in his capacity as Chief Licensing officer). Officers of the licensing section will respond to complaints wherever they are received in the borough and will take action if it is found that licensees are breaching the conditions of their licence.  There is no question that the Council has banned drinking on the Embankment. Yours sincerely Sheila Brass Area Manager Safety and Licensing

Entire Thread

Topic	Date Posted	Posted By
Duke's Head - UPDATE	06/08/07 14:48:00	Nick Cochran
Re:Duke's Head - UPDATE	06/08/07 15:17:00	Simon Knight
Re:Duke's Head - UPDATE	24/09/07 20:01:00	Jonathan Callaway
Re:Re:Duke's Head - UPDATE	25/09/07 12:15:00	Sian Ryan
Re:Re:Re:Duke's Head - UPDATE	27/09/07 16:09:00	Nick Cochran
Re:Duke's Head - UPDATE	27/09/07 16:42:00	Bob Bowmer
Re:Re:Duke's Head - UPDATE	29/09/07 00:03:00	Vic Condon
Duke's Head - Rip-Off -  £4 a pint!	30/09/07 17:04:00	Darren B. Hewett

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