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Casebook: Food and drink uses - Arches cafe weekend hours extended

Food and drink uses

Planning, 18 July 2008

An appeal seeking longer opening hours at a cafe-bar operating from railway arches in Berkshire has been allowed following a decision that it would not undermine local residents' amenity.

A condition imposed on the change of use permission precluded the premises from being open after 11pm on any day of the week. The appellants sought to extend the hours until 3am on Saturday and Sunday mornings, for which a licence had been granted. In addition, they noted that the council was about to implement a marshalling scheme that would enable people leaving the premises to access taxis in an orderly manner.

The inspector acknowledged that the licence was a material consideration. However, he also found it necessary to consider the impact on public order and neighbours' amenity. Since the authorised capacity of the premises was 300 people, he opined that allowing them to open until 3am would be excessive.

While accepting that the appellants' target clientele was older and generally wealthier, he did not consider that this obviated the need to ensure that local residents were not unacceptably disturbed by people coming and going. In his view, the opening hours should only be extended to 1am, with 30 minutes being allowed for customers to leave the premises and disperse.

DCS Number 100-055-932

Inspector Terry Phillimore; Inquiry.