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Notification of decision following a Licensing Panel hearing to
determine an application for the variation of a premises licence
under section 34 of the Licensing Act 2003
 
PREMISES:    The Great
Conservatory, Syon Park, Brentford, TW8 8JF
 
APPLICANT:  Syon House
Ventures
  
TAKE NOTICE THAT
on Thursday 20th November 2025following a
hearing before the Licensing and General Purposes Sub Committee
(the “Licensing Panel” or
“Panel”),
 
HOUNSLOW COUNCIL,
as the Licensing Authority for the Premises
RESOLVED as follows:
 
To Grant, the
application for the variation of a premises licence for The Great
Conservatory, Syon Park, Brentford, TW8 8JF,
as follows:
 

·       
Supply of alcohol for consumption on and off the
premises:
Monday to Sunday 10:00 to 01:00

 

·       
Performance of Plays - Indoors
Monday to Sunday 09:00 to 01:00

 

·       
Exhibition of Films –
Indoors
Monday to Sunday 09:00 to 01:00
 

·       
Live Music – Indoors
Monday to Sunday 09:00 to 01:00
 

·       
Recorded Music - Indoors
Monday to Sunday 09:00 to 01:00
 

·       
Performance of Dance - Indoors
Monday to Sunday 09:00 to 01:00
 

·       
Late Night Refreshment - Indoors
Monday to Sunday 23:00 to 01:00
 

·       
The opening hours of the premises:
Monday to Sunday 09:00 to 02:00
 
 
 
Amendments to Premises Licence
Conditions:
 
(1)
   A function manager and Security
Industry Act 2001 (SIA) Steward must be present at every event
where licensable activity is occurring, when the expected capacity
of that event exceeds 30 visitors.
 
(12) The number of persons accommodated within the Great
Conservatory will not exceed 350, or if seated at tables, will not
exceed 180.
 
(13) The doors leading to
the Lily Pond and Cactus Houses shall be unlocked at all times the
premises are in use under the terms of this
licence.
 
(14) During all functions
where regulated entertainment is occurring, only the doors and
windows on the inside
of the building, facing onto the formal lawns, may be kept open
until 21:30 hours, at which point they must be closed and only used
for ingress and egress of the building. This condition includes the
doors and windows of both the Lily Pond area and the Cactus House,
located on either end of the building.
 
(15) During all functions
where regulated entertainment is occurring, doors and windows on
the outer side of the building, facing onto the rear lawns, must
always be kept closed unless required for
wheelchair or emergency access to or from the building; this
includes planned alterations to the building at the Lily Pond end,
which will relate to WC access. This includes doors and windows in
both the Lily Pond and Cactus House area, located at either end of
the building. However, it does permit use of doors to vacate the
premises after cessation of functions past permitted times for
licensable activities.
 
 
Reasons
 
 

1.          
The Panel convened in person to determine an
application from Syon House Ventures (the
“Applicant”), to vary their existing premises
licence H00311 (the “Current Licence”) for The
Great Conservatory, Syon Park, Brentford, TW8 8JF (the “Premises”) under the Licensing Act 2003. 
 

2.          
The Premises is a glass conservatory and surrounding
grounds shown as the “Back Garden”, “Front
gardens/ Front Lawns” and the “Thames Yard” on
the Premises licence plan attached to the application.  The Premises are located in Syon Park with housing
adjacent to the park.   In addition
to Syon House, there is also an event space known as the Clementine
that is within part of the Syon House grounds, and a Hilton Hotel,
which is within Syon Park.  A premises
licence application has been submitted for Syon House, and the
Clementine and the Hilton Hotel already have a premises
licence. 
 

3.          
At the hearing, the Applicant was represented by
Mike Nickson of Inn Confidence, along with Victoria Corke and Tori
Holcomb of the Applicant and Michael Baxter, an Agent for the Duke
of Northumberland. 
 

4.          
The objectors consist of residents living near to
the Premises and Syon Park. 
Two of the objectors attended the
hearing.
 

5.          
In making its decision, the Panel considered
all the relevant information, including:
 

·       
Written and Oral representations by all the
parties

·       
The Licensing Act 2003 and the steps appropriate to
promote the Licensing Objectives

·       
The guidance issued under section 182 of the
Licensing Act 2003 (the “Statutory
Guidance”)

·       
Hounslow Council’s Statement of Licensing
Policy 2020-2025 (the “Council’s
Policy”)

·       
The Human Rights Act 1998
 

6.          
The Current Licence permits the supply of alcohol
between 12:00 to 00:00 Monday to Sunday, for music and dancing
between 09:00 and 00:00 Monday to Sunday and for opening hours
between 09:00 and 00:00 Monday to Sunday.  Therefore, the application seeks to extend the
scope of licensable activities, extend the termination time for
licensable activities to 01:00, extend the closing time to 02:00
and increase the areas used for licensable
activities.
 

7.          
The Applicant confirmed they were also seeking to
update some of the current licence conditions, such as to expand
the maximum capacity of the Premises, to clarify issues regarding
the use of SIA staff and to clarify the use of certain areas of the
Premises. The variation also seeks to extend the areas from which
alcohol may be supplied to include temporary structures in the
outside spaces or consumed there, having been purchased from within
the conservatory building.
 

8.          
The Panel was informed that the Premises deals with
a lot of events and weddings, and they already look to close the
windows of the Great Conservatory from around 21:00 (the Current
Licence stipulates this must be done by 21:30) in order to keep
noise within the building.  The
amplified music in the Great Conservatory goes through a sound
limiter and the Panel was also told they do sound checks around the
Great Conservatory, usually on 3 occasions around 19:00, 21:00 and
23:00, at 3 different locations that were described to the
Panel.  They also have conditions
restricting the playing of dhols and bagpipes after 21:00 as these
are unamplified instruments that can get quite loud. 
 

9.          
The objectors all raised the same concerns over the
increased risk of noise nuisance that may be caused if the Premises
are allowed to stay open later.  The
representations are set out in Appendix C and were reiterated by
the objectors in attendance at the hearing.
 

10.      
With regard to the objections, there is reference to
existing noise nuisance in the representations, although it was not
entirely clear to the Panel how much of any such nuisance was
caused by events at the Premises under the Current Licence, as
opposed to other events or premises elsewhere in Syon
Park.  The reason for this is that while
some of the objections reference noise from the Conservatory,
another objection refers to revellers leaving functions at Syon
House, which is a different premises that are not currently
licensed.  It also refers to cans and
bottles being thrown over their garden walls, but the Current
Licence does not permit off-sales of alcohol, which suggests this
anti-social behaviour is by people attending other
events.  Also, whilst the
representations refer to hearing music from the Conservatory, it is
not clear to the Panel when this music can be heard and to what
extent.  This is relevant as the Current
Licence requires only the doors and windows facing the front lawn
to be kept open until 21:30, and thereafter they must be kept
closed save to access and egress.  If
the music and noise was mainly before 21:30 on event days that
would indicate the conditions on the Current Licence are being
applied and are having an effect.  If
the noise nuisance was after 21:30 then that would indicate there
may be an ongoing public nuisance despite the current licensing
conditions, which may require further action and/or further
licensing conditions to address the same.   The objectors present at the hearing stated
they had not heard any dhol drums from the Premises, which might
suggest the Premises was responsibly managing noise levels, however
the Panel did not ask the Applicant whether there had been any
events at which a dhol was used.
 

11.      
Taking all matters into consideration, the Panel has
decided to grant the application to vary the premises licence as
set out in the application, which includes amendment of the
Premises licence plan and amendment of conditions 1, 12, 13, 14 and
15 in Annex 2 of the Current Licence.
 

12.      
The Panel would like to remind all parties that if a
licenced premises is causing a nuisance and/or breaching the terms
of their premises licence, be that the Premises or any premises,
then a party is entitled to apply for a review of that premises
licence, which should be supported by evidence. 
 
Right to Appeal
 
Any
party aggrieved with the decision of the Licensing Panel on one or
more grounds set out in schedule 5 of Licensing Act 2003 may
appeal to the local Magistrate’s Court within