Mediation wins the day for Shere Khan

Following our success in securing a late licence for the Tiger Bay shisha bar in Ealing recently, Complete Licensing has produced a repeat performance with another of the group’s bars. What makes our latest success in Enfield – the fourth late licence we have secured in West London for Tiger Bay this year – was that it went against established council policy.

The owners of Tiger Bay’s Shere Khan bar in Enfield were seeking a variation of their licence to allow operating until 5.30am several days a week. The shisha bar chain caters (though not exclusively) for many workers in the hospitality sector, who use the bars once their own late night shifts have finished. And with many clients not arriving until well into the early hours of the morning, the bars’ business model depends on extended opening hours.

Objections to the Shere Khan application came from the Metropolitan Police and Enfield Council’s environmental health officers, but, as with the other Tiger Bay bars in Brent, Hounslow and Ealing, Complete Licensing put forward a compelling case which convinced the objectors to withdraw and allowed the licence variation to be waved through under delegated authority, meaning there was no need for a licensing committee hearing.

This application highlighted the benefits of licensing mediation, and what made it more impressive was that Shere Khan is located within Enfield Borough’s cumulative impact zone (CIZ), where there is a presumption not to grant licence variations.

The application was backed up by our expert consultants – director of strategic licensing and nighttime economy Edward Sherry, chief environmental health and safety consultant David Nevitt and senior crime and intelligence analyst David Oates. This strong body of evidence was aided by ongoing contributions from senior licensing and compliance advisor Jim Sollars.

What ultimately tipped the balance so that the licence was granted was the use of licensing mediation. James Hoffelner, who manages our licensing strategy and regulatory crisis issues, was able to lay out the body of evidence amassed on behalf of Shere Khan’s owners to council and police representatives and agree small tweaks to satisfy all the parties involved.

Those conditions agreed on include full cooperation with local residents, giving them access via telephone and in person to the premises in order to raise any issues or concerns they might have. Tiger Bay were happy to be involved in this initiative – a central plank of the licensing mediation process.

This was the third of Tiger Bay’s licence variations granted under delegated authority, underlining just how important licensing mediation is; it avoids costly committee hearings – costly for the clients and for the publicly-funded councils – and ensures that all sides have a full understanding of the licensing conditions.

Crucial to this success – and to all our applications – is our ongoing compliance package, which ensures all conditions are regularly checked.