Hangleton Manor pub license application to iron out '˜inconsistencies'

Philip Day, representing brewery Hall and Woodhouse, told a Brighton and Hove City Council licensing panel that its licence application was aimed at sorting out ‘inconsistencies’.

The most controversial part of the licence application, discussed at Hove Town Hall on Tuesday (July 31), was including the beer garden as part of the pub’s licensed area.

Mr Day said that this was to cover a service point in the garden so that people did not have to go to the bar to order food and drink.

Customers already drink in the garden, he said.

He told the panel: “If they are in the garden, they can go up to the temporary till point and have their order brought to them. The outside benches have room for 200 seated.

“If you’ve got a busy summer day, people are outside having a drink and they have to come in to order.

“This does cause customer and staff issues.”

Mr Day said that as Hangleton Manor was a 16th century Grade II* listed building, it would be too complex to create a permanent bar outside.

He also said that there may be some ice cream and soft drink sales from the proposed outside till.

And there may be some occasions or events such as weddings where the pub might set up a temporary bar, but Mr Day said that this was not the point of the adjustment.

Another element of the application – changes to the number of people permitted in the pub – was to get rid of an outdated part of the licence, as the premises fire regulations state that the pub has capacity for 300 customers.

Mr Day said that there were no plans to increase the number of people already permitted on the premises.

The least contentious part of the licence was the request for late night refreshment.

At the moment the pub cannot serve tea or coffee after 11pm, even though customers can buy a beer, wine or a soft drink on certain nights after 11pm.

Serving late night refreshment allows the manager to serve hot drinks even after the kitchen has shut at 9pm.

Neighbours attending the panel shared their concerns about noise, which was described as a historic problem.

Peter Grist, who spoke for the group, said: “More recently there has been an improvement. This year we have not been disturbed after 11.30pm.”

Neighbours were advised to contact the council if they were concerned about noise problems and Mr Day also invited them to contact him directly.

However, neighbour Jo Wells said that they were reluctant, having had problems trying to deal with the council over large over-shadowing trees in the pub garden.

Sarah Booker-Lewis is the Local Democracy Reporter for Brighton & Hove.

For more of her stories, click here.