Issue - meetings

The Licensing Authority has received an application for the renewal of the Sex Establishment Licence for the premises known as ‘Easy Tiger’, 27 Triangle, Bournemouth BH2 5SE, to trade as a sex shop for a further twelve-month period.

As the Licensing Authority has received one objection, this matter is brought before the Licensing Sub Committee for determination.

BCP Council:

Sarah Rogers – Principal Licensing Officer – Senior Licensing Officer

Johanne McNamara – Legal Advisor to the Sub-Committee

Jill Holyoake – Clerk to the Sub-Committee

The Chair made introductions and explained the procedure for the hearing, which was agreed by all parties.

The Principal Licensing Officer presented the report, a copy of which had been circulated and a copy of which appears as Appendix A to these minutes in the Minute Book. The Sub Committee was asked to consider an application for the renewal of the Sex Establishment Licence for the premises known as ‘Easy Tiger’, 27 The Triangle, Bournemouth, BH2 5SE, to permit the premises to trade as a sex shop for a further twelve-month period.

As a result of the consultation one objection had been received against the renewal of the licence. A copy of the objection was included with the report, together with the applicant’s mediation letters and a business and customer petition in support of the application. 56 letters of support had been received these were also appended to the report.

It was confirmed that there had been no representations received from any of the responsible authorities.

The following persons attended the hearing and addressed the Sub- Committee to expand on the points made in written submissions:

• Mr Jonathan Spencer – licence holder and proprietor
• Mrs Susan Stockwell – Objector

The Sub Committee asked various questions of all parties present and were grateful for the responses received. All parties were invited to sum up before the Sub-Committee retired to make its decision.

RESOLVED that the application to renew the Sex Establishment Licence for the premises known as ‘Easy Tiger’, 27 The Triangle, Bournemouth, BH2 5SE, to permit the premises to trade as a sex shop for a further twelve-month period, be GRANTED.

Reason for Decision:

The Sub-Committee considered in detail all the information which had been submitted before the hearing, including the Principal Licensing Officer’s report, the written submissions of the objector, Susan Stockwell, and the written submissions of the applicant, Jonathan Spencer. The Sub-Committee also considered the verbal submissions made by all parties at the hearing and was grateful to all parties for their responses to questions.

In making its decision the Sub-Committee had regard to the provisions of Schedule 3 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 and the available grounds for refusing the application contained within paragraph 12 of that schedule. The Sub Committee was unable to find sufficient evidence in the objector’s submission to support a refusal on any of the available grounds.

The Sub-Committee noted that the premises has traded as a sex shop at its current location for 15 years under the current ownership and a further 9 years before that at another location in the Triangle. The Principal Licensing Officer confirmed that one complaint had been received in relation to the premises, this was from the objector in April 2024, regarding the use of wording relating to a female sex organ in a window display. Following  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30