Bar in Merthyr Tydfil Granted Extended Hours for Alcohol and Music Despite Local Concerns

A bar in Merthyr Tydfil will be able to stay open, serve alcohol and play live music for longer on some days despite the concerns of a local councillor.
An application to vary the premises licence of The Celtic Bar in Dynevor Street was considered by the council’s statutory licensing committee on Wednesday, April 24, and the committee voted to grant it with conditions.
The application was for the sale of alcohol on the premises and live and recorded music indoors to be allowed until 2am and for opening hours up to 2.15am from Thursday to Saturday.
The committee’s decision included conditions related to CCTV, an incident log, door staff, staff training around asking for ID from anyone who appears to be under 25, a refusals register, plastic or non-glass receptacles, and a zero-tolerance policy on drugs.
Local ward councillor Louise Minett-Vokes referred to accommodation
near to the premises that houses vulnerable elderly persons and the fact there will in the future be homeless accommodation in the vicinity of the premises.
She also said increasing the licensable hours would increase noise from the premises and from patrons outside.
Cllr Minett-Vokes also said increasing the hours would exacerbate these existing problems and a balance had to be achieved between the licensing of premises and the public living in the area.
But Granville Thomas, the licence holder and owner, said the increased hours would not conflict with the licensing principles and added that the police had not objected to the application.
He said the police never had trouble with the premises and also confirmed he had voluntarily agreed to amend the conditions of his licence as suggested by the police.
He said that when ever he had applied for a temporary event notice, which in essence varied his conditions for the event, he had never experienced problems.
The committee decided there was no direct evidence that the premises had or would breach the licensing principles.
It was noted that the Kooler and the Club Crown had later hours for licensable activities, and that policy did not cover fixed closing times, staggered closing times and zoning.
The decision notice said: “After considering the dynamic nature and characteristics of this particular area it was felt that increasing the hours to the times requested in the application would not detrimentally affect residents in the area.
“It was noted that the police had not objected to the application and that the premises had agreed to firm up the current licence conditions to ensure the licensing principles were promoted.” ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​