The Walrus and the Carpenter, Whitby, licensing hearing postponed

A licensing hearing into a Whitby eatery’s plan to serve alcohol has been postponed.
The application went out to public consultation earlier this year and some members of the public have objected.The application went out to public consultation earlier this year and some members of the public have objected.
The application went out to public consultation earlier this year and some members of the public have objected.

The Walrus and the Carpenter, in Church Street, had applied to Scarborough Council to serve alcohol on the premises until 11pm on Sundays to Thursdays and midnight on Friday and Saturday.

A hearing was due to be held on Tuesday next week but that has now been postponed until a later date.

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Following the local elections, Scarborough Council needs to appoint councillors to committees, including licensing. That process is not due to take place until Monday, which would have been less than 24 hours before a licensing sub-committee would have heard the Walrus and the Carpenter application.

The application went out to public consultation earlier this year and some members of the public have objected. Scarborough Council has not revealed how many objections it received.

Things are made harder for the eatery as it is located within the town’s cumulative impact zone (CIP). The CIP creates a presumption that applications for new licences will normally be refused if relevant representations are received.

The burden of proof is shifted to the applicant to provide evidence that the premises will not add to the problems already generated by licensed premises in that area.

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In this case, the applicants have offered up a number of self-imposed conditions in order to try and mitigate the impact.

These include that the consumption of alcohol will only take place on the ground floor or outside seating area and no alcohol will be served outside after 7pm except in the summer months of June, July, August and September and bank holidays.

All drinks will be waitress served and there will always be a minimum of 15 seats available inside to negate the need for vertical drinking.

In a report that had been prepared for the councillors the reasons given by the objectors are stated as: “Concerns over another outside area being used for the consumption of alcohol within Whitby and that this would be detrimental to other businesses.

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“The area already suffers from antisocial behaviour including fighting in the street and noise and [there are] concerns over public safety.”

All sides will have a chance to present their case at the hearing when it is rescheduled.