Local authority told to pay record costs after licensing appeal

Denbighshire County Council has been ordered to pay what are thought to be record costs in a licensing appeal.

On 8 December District Judge Shaw at Llandudno Magistrates’ Court awarded £24,600 in costs against the local authority after the owners of a nightclub successfully appealed the revocation of their licence.

The case of Birch House Business Centre Ltd v Denbighshire County Council involved the V2 Nightclub, which had seen three consecutive review applications by North Wales Police.

The V2 was previously known as The Venue Nightclub, which had attracted police and resident concern for more than 15 years. The first review came two weeks after the club had been taken over, despite the fact that there had been no further incidents during the period of new ownership.

District Judge Shaw considered the new management to be responsible and making appropriate changes. However, he criticised the police and the local authority for sending conflicting messages – indicating approval of the management but then making review applications without warning. The appellants’ confusion was therefore entirely understandable, he added.

The judge described the first review as “palpably premature”. A second review was similarly premature, and “founded upon a very selective presentation of incidents”.

According to District Judge Shaw, the material presented by the police to the licensing committee “did not give an accurate reflection of the true situation and was slanted by its omission of relevant details so as to present the Appellants in a worse light”.

This attempt to revoke the licence was “ill judged and heavy handed”, the judge said. The committee put the V2’s owners on notice that further incidents could lead to revocation.

The third bid to have the licence revoked took place after events on 13 June 2010, the same day as England’s first match in the World Cup and a local sheep shearing competition.

The judge said there were a number of incidents of disorder in Ruthin that night, including at the V2. He summarised the events at the club as “a series of incidents of aggressive behaviour and some fighting including attacks upon the doormen by a group who outnumbered them”.

At the height of the incident the V2’s staff felt able to ask customers to leave and did not feel in personal peril, a fact the judge considered relevant.

The committee proceeded to revoke the licence, a decision that the club’s owners appealed.

District Judge Shaw pointed out that the fact that a licensing committee has decided to revoke a licence does not mean a local authority is duty bound to resist any appeal.

“In the course of considering its approach to an appeal, the local authority must scrutinise the evidence upon which the decision was founded, and the material provided by the Appellants in its support,” he said.

The judge said it was a feature of the case that much of the material was requested “not by the authority in the course of considering its case but by the Appellants”.

Material relevant to events elsewhere in Ruthin on the night of 13 June was only disclosed during the appeal, despite earlier requests for its disclosure.

District Judge Shaw said that the council’s view of the case lacked objectivity and was driven too much by the demands and wishes of local residents. The strength of evidence was not properly scrutinised by the council.

“If the Respondents had investigated the merits of this case with any vigour, they would not have opposed the appeal.”

He added that the decision by Denbighshire – after the conclusion of the appellants’ case and following a “very sensible” review of the case by the authority’s counsel, instructing solicitor and a senior officer – that the licensing committee’s decision to revoke the licence could not be supported was one with which he entirely agreed.