Bournemouth Club Loses License

Bournemouth Council's confirmed that the licence for the premises known as The Studio and Priva, 32-40 Poole Hill, Bournemouth, has been revoked.

The Chairman of the licensing board said:

"The Board considered a suspension of the license along with a replacement of the Designated Premises Supervisor, it also noted the chronology where variations to the License were agreed with Dorset Police and new conditions added to the license. 

"In considering all of the above it seemed that both the premises management and the legal representative see the situation as everyone else’s fault and it was clear to us that they are in denial about the problems at the premises, particularly in relation to the presence of drugs. 

"The Board find this situation surprising given the level of experience that the Designated Premises Supervisor and owner, Mr Simons has in the trade.

He added: "The Police had made a case that three of the Licensing objectives had not been promoted, namely the Prevention of Crime and Disorder, Pubic Safety and the Prevention of Public Nuisance. The Boards particular emphasis had been on Crime and disorder. We found it disappointing that there seemed to have been a clear failure to communicate with Dorset Police and also to manage the premises in line with conditions. 

"Since reopening there have been a number of breaches of existing licensing conditions, therefore there is no confidence that any additional conditions would be upheld, put simply the board believed that new conditions would not make a difference.

"We found that the premises drugs policy was inadequate and the quality of record keeping was lamentable, in addition we have real concerns that those in charge of security were not even familiar with the license."

He concluded: "The Board had no confidence in the current regime to uphold the current licensing objectives and felt that the problems at the club were strongly associated with the excessive consumption of alcohol."

The premises will stay open as the owners have the right to appeal to the Magistrates’ Court with 21 days of the Decision Notice being issued.