Agenda item

Report of Corporate Director of Communities, Environment and Resident Services

Katie Jones, Licensing Officer, presented the report and stated the following:

a)  an application was submitted on 31 July 2024 for the renewal and variation of an existing sex establishment licence for Flirtz, 26A Friary Chambers, Friar Lane, Nottingham, NG1 6DQ, a sexual entertainment venue;

b)  variation to the licence was sought as follows:

  i.  To extend the timings for the sexual entertainment venue from 21.00hrs-04.00hrs to 21.00hrs-06.00hrs Monday to Friday and from 12.00hrs-04.00hrs to 12.00hrs-06.00hrs;

  ii.  To amend condition 2 of the special conditions imposed on the licence from ‘Unless agreed otherwise by the police, there will be a minimum of three Security Industry Authority door supervisors present at the premises during the hours of operation when live dancing is taking place, one of whom must be on the front entrance’ to the following condition to be consistent with the door staff condition contained in the premises licence ‘The designated premises supervisor or manager will risk assess the need for Security Industry Authority registered door supervisors at the premises and/or employ such door supervisors at such time and in such numbers as deemed necessary following a risk assessment and/or at any other times upon agreement with Nottinghamshire Police’.

  iii.  To amend condition 2.1 of the standard conditions from ‘No person under the age of 21 shall be allowed on the premises’ to ‘No person under the age of 18 years shall be allowed on the premises’.

  iv.  To amend condition 3.4 under the standard conditions from ‘Full nudity is not permitted. G-strings must be worn at all times and clothing shall not be transparent to ‘Full nudity is only permitted in the areas edged blue to the first floor as shown on the attached plan. In all other public areas within the premises the performers and employees must at all times wear at least a G-string’.

c)  an objection has been received from Nottinghamshire Police, who do not support the amendment to condition 2 or the relaxation of the age entry condition, and state that should this variation be granted, the committee should consider amending the conditions as follows;

  i.  ‘Standard Condition 2.2 (Challenge 21) - amend this to Challenge 25’. This will result in a higher proportion of people seeking entry having their age verified and help prevent any persons under the age of 18 years from gaining entry to the premises. This also reinforces the need to keep Special Condition 2 (door supervisors) unchanged to facilitate the increase in age verification at the point of entry and to ensure that only customers over the age of 20 years gain access to the first floor.;

  ii.  an additional condition which states: ‘Persons aged between 18 and 20 years are only permitted on the ground floor of the premises’;

d)  although Nottingham City Council’s ‘Policy and Procedures for Sex Establishments, Schedule 3’, does not provide for the police to make an objection to a variation application, the council’s policy states that the procedure for variation applications is the same as a new/renewal application (paragraph 3.4).

Following presentation of the report, representatives for the applicant and the Police stated their individual cases, and both responded to questions from members and the other party.

Both the applicant and Police summarised their case, and then all parties left the room at 3.10pm while the Committee deliberated.

All parties returned at 3.45pm and the Chair informed them of the Committee’s decision, which was as follows:

Resolved to

(1)  approve the amendment to timings, and to sections 2.1 and 3.4 of the Standard Conditions as per the application (detailed in minute 5b) i), iii) and iv) above);

(2)  not approve the applied for amendment to condition 2 of the special conditions, the number of door supervisors (as detailed in minute 5b) ii) above);

(3)  request that officers undertake a review of the Council’s Policy for Sex Entertainment Venues.