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Notification of decision following a Licensing Panel hearing to
determine an application for the grant of a premises licence under
section 34 of the Licensing Act 2003
 
PREMISES:  
The Whistling Oyster, 46 Devonshire Road, Chiswick W4
2HD
 
APPLICANT:  Mr Sasha Mantel, The
Whistling Oyster (Fishmongers) Ltd (Company number
12884249)
  
TAKE NOTICE THAT
on Thursday 9th May 2024 following 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 that:
 
the application for the grant
of a premises licence for The Whistling Oyster, 46
Devonshire Road, Chiswick W4 2HD is GRANTED,
subject to the modifications and conditions stated
below. 
 
REASONS:
 

1.         
The Panel convened to determine an application by
The Whistling Oyster (Fishmongers) Ltd (Company number 12884249)
(the “Applicant”) for The
Whistling Oyster, 46 Devonshire Road, Chiswick W4 2HD
(“the “Premises”), for a variation of
the premises licence for the Premises under the Licensing
Act 2003. 
 

2.         
The Premises are situated in an area of mixed
commercial and residential properties and the Premises are
currently licensed for the supply of alcohol for consumption on and
off the Premises from 10:00 to 22:00 Monday to Saturday and from
11:00 to 22:00 on Sunday.  The premises
licence only applies to the ground floor, and the licence already
has additional conditions that address issues regarding the
prevention of crime and disorder, the prevention of public nuisance
and the protection of children from harm.
 

3.         
The Applicant has applied to vary the premises
licence to include an
area on the 1st floor of the Premises within the
premises licence and to extend the opening times and hours for the
supply of alcohol on and off the Premises by 1 hour from Tuesday to
Saturday, so that these hours would be as follows: 
 

Supply of alcohol on the premises:
Monday: 10:00 to
22:00
Tuesday to Saturday:
10:00 to 23:00
Sunday: 11:00 to
22:00
 

Hours premises are open to the public:
Monday: 09:00 to
22:00
Tuesday to Saturday:
09:00 to 23:00
Sunday: 10:00 to
22:00
 

4.         
A copy of the application is attached at Appendix
Aand to the agenda pack (the “Agenda”) and a
copy of the existing licence is shown at Appendix B.
 

5.         
The hearing was held in-person before a 3-Member
Licensing Panel.  All Members of the
Licensing Panel were in attendance throughout the hearing, and
during deliberation which took place in a closed
session. 
 

6.         
The Licensing Panel carefully considered all the
relevant information including:
 

·      
Written and Oral representations by all the
parties

·      
The Licensing Act 2003 and the steps
appropriate to promotethe
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
 

7.         
During the consultation period representations were
received from six parties, three of whom objected to the
application and three in support.  These
representations are shown at Appendix C and D
respectively.
 

8.         
For two of the objectors, their main issue is the
proposed extension of the licencing hours, which they are concerned
will lead to an increase in public nuisance, particularly noise,
from customers visiting and leaving the Premises later in the
evening. They note the Premises are reasonably quiet during
operational hours and well managed, but stress that it is located
closest to the main residential part of Devonshire Road. The other
objector raises a number of issues, alleging the Premises causes
considerable noise, loud drunken clients and leaving rubbish in the
road.  They also complain of having to
go into the road due to the use of outside tables.
 

9.         
The three representations in support enjoy the
Premises and consider it well run business.
 

10.     
The Director and DPS of the Applicant, Mr Sasha
Mantel, was in attendance at the hearing. None of those who
submitted representations, either for or against the application,
attended.
 

11.     
Mr Mantel stated they are slowly building up the
business and learning as they go along. 
He said the business has had a number of good reviews and they have
a particular type of clientele and have not received any complaints
about their customers.  They have
permission to use the space on the 1st floor of the
Premises and so want to expand into this space so they can
accommodate more customers.  Therefore,
they want to licence the upstairs space so they can also serve
alcohol to customers sat there, and to expand their licensing times
by an hour from Tuesday to Saturday to have the same hours as
similar places along the road.
 

12.     
Mr Mantel stated that even during summer their
customers start moving on from the Premises after 9.30pm as they
are not a restaurant so most of their customers like to have a
drink and some oysters and then move on.   They do not operate a reservation policy and
so they find people are generally more friendly with each other as
they wait for a spare seat.
 

13.     
In response to questioning, Mr Mantel stated that
they would hope to have between 16-20 covers on the 1st
floor of the Premises and that they want the place to look
nice.  In response to the complaint
about disposable forks and napkins being left in the street, Mr
Mantel told the Panel they do not use those items and so they do
not belong to them.
 

14.     
With respect to the comments in the application
about the outdoor seating being subject to the warmer months of the
year between April and October, the Applicant confirmed that this
was for information purposes only and was not a formal application
for non-standard timings.  
 
Decision
 

15.     
The Statutory Guidance states that:
 

“2.15 The 2003 Act enables
licensing authorities and responsible authorities, through
representations, to consider what constitutes public nuisance and
what is appropriate to prevent it in terms of conditions attached
to specific premises licences and club premises certificates. It is
therefore important that in considering the promotion of this
licensing objective, licensing authorities and responsible
authorities focus on the effect of the licensable activities at the
specific premises on persons living and working (including those
carrying on business) in the area around the premises which may be
disproportionate and unreasonable. The issues will mainly concern
noise nuisance, light pollution, noxious smells and
litter.
 

16.     
The extended licencing hours applied for are within
the Authority’s core hours as set out within Section 2.5 and
Table LP3 of the Council’s Policy.  The physical extension of the Premises is also to
the internal area only, which is less likely to cause public
nuisance and/or crime and disorder. 
 

17.     
The existing licensing conditions relate to the
prevention of crime and disorder, the prevention of public nuisance
and the protection of children from harm.  The conditions address the Panel’s concerns
in relation to the extension of the Premises into the
1st floor area, and to the extended licensing hours
between Tuesday to Saturday. Specifically, the existing conditions
contain measures relating to staff training, use of the challenge
25 scheme, an incident logbook, notices requesting customers to
leave quietly, not serving alcohol to customers who appear
inebriated, external litter bins and preventing customers leaving
the Premises with alcohol in open containers.  Furthermore, there are conditions requiring the
outside areas to be cleared by 21:30 hours and restrictions on
people wishing to smoke taking drinks outside with them, unless
they are using the outside tables, which should address the
objectors’ main concerns over public nuisance that may be
caused by any extended hours.
 

18.     
The premises licence contains conditions for the
implementation and use of CCTV, but with the Premises to be
extended in to the 1st floor, and in furtherance of the
prevention of crime and disorder objective, the Panel consider that
condition 1 of Annex 3 to the current premises licence should be
amended so that it also includes a requirement for CCTV to be used
on the 1st floor and the entrance / exit to the
same.
 

19.     
Having taken all matters into account the Panel has
therefore decided to GRANT the application for a premises
licence as follows:
 

Supply of alcohol on the premises:
Monday: 10:00 to
22:00
Tuesday to Saturday:
10:00 to 23:00
Sunday: 11:00 to
22:00
 

Hours premises are open to the public:
Monday: 09:00 to
22:00
Tuesday to Saturday:
09:00 to 23:00
Sunday: 10:00 to
22:00
 
1)   
The licence plan to the premises licence is amended
to include the 1st floor plan included with the
application to vary the premises licence dated 13th
March 2024.
 
2)   
Condition 1 of Annex 3 is amended so that it now
reads as follows (for assistance, the additional wording is shown
underlined):
 

“The premises shall install and maintain a
comprehensive CCTV system as per the minimum requirements of a
Metropolitan Police Crime Prevention Officer. All entry and exit
points will be covered enabling frontal identification of every
person entering and leaving the premises in any light
condition.  The entrance and exit to the
1st floor of the premises and the 1st floor
dining area will also be covered by CCTV.”
 
Right to Appeal
 

20.     
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 21 days of notification of this
decision.