Mail Room bar in Southampton secures extra hour on licence

Mail Room in Oxford Street secured a variation to its premises licence from members of city council licensing sub-committee.

The proposal from Genco Restaurant & Bar Ltd went before councillors after two residents in nearby Latimer Street submitted objections.

The applicant said being able to trade for an additional hour until 1am would “enhance” their business and make it “more sustainable”.

Objector Colin Beaven said his opposition was over the “Jekyll and Mr Hyde transformation” that takes place late at night and the weekend in Oxford Street generally.

“I don’t a particular axe to grind with the Mail Room at all, but it is essential I think that the locality of Oxford Street should be regarded as a totality and should be managed consistently,” Mr Beavan said.

“That’s why we have this arms race of prolonged opening. There have been of these meetings over the years where everyone wants to have an extra bite of the cherry in order to safeguard their business model.”

Mr Beavan told the sub-committee meeting on Wednesday, August 27, that life became “intolerable” for residents when venues were open late at night with “unbelievably loud” music.

“This is not a high street,” he said. “This is a joint area where there is entertainment and there is a residential community.

“There should be an ecology between the two where they get on with each other.

“You are not going to have that if you have bars operating past midnight and, not only that, operating very loudly. That’s the issue.”

Chris Lucan, of the Licensing Guys, said the applicant was asking for an extra hour at night in line with the recent decision of the planning inspector.

Genco Restaurant & Bar Ltd was successful in an appeal against the city council, securing planning permission to open from 8am to 1am for a period of two years.

“The hours proposed are not late but are pretty standard operating hours for similar premises in Oxford Street and indeed up and down every high street across the entire country,” Mr Lucan said.

“Many venues nearby open much later.

“This premises used to operate until 1am but a previous operator clipped an hour off closing time with the intention of avoiding the council’s late-night levy and we respectfully now ask for that hour back.”

He told councillors Mail Room had operated incident free to the “complete satisfaction” of police and had done so for a considerable time.

Mr Lucan said the prospect of problems occurring was “purely speculation”.

Designated premises supervisor Sarah Rice said: “We have found recently that more people are drinking later into the evening.

“They are coming out later rather than earlier in the day, so we feel that by just trading until 1am that would enhance our business and be more sustainable.”

The sub-committee heard the variation requested included being able to be open from 8am.

This was to give the business “flexibility” as it was looking at reopening its kitchen and providing a breakfast offering.

The applicant had agreed conditions with police on the licence variation and no objections had been raised by any of the responsible authorities.

Cllr Gordon Cooper, chair of the sub-committee, said: “Whilst the sub-committee listened to and understood the concerns of the residential objector, it is bound by legislation and case law, which that decisions must be evidenced based and there was no evidence that these premises caused these concerns.”