Objections to new Weymouth cocktail bar pulled
Police and environmental health pulled their objects after an offer from new owners.
A new Weymouth cocktail bar and café-bistro has offered to reduce its late hours until 1.30am with earlier closing on some nights.
The cocktail bar and coffee shop/bistro, Caffeine, is expected to be operating from the former Mary’s Tearooms on The Esplanade within the coming weeks.
A Dorset licensing committee heard on Wednesday that the premises aimed to be up-market for an over-25 audience.
Committee members heard that had their application for a drinks licence been submitted earlier the new operators would have been able to continue opening the premises until 4.30am, the same as the previous tea room licence, although it was seldom, if ever, open that late.
Objections had been raised to the original application, which included the 4.30am closing time, but police and environmental health dropped their objections when the new operators offered to reduce the hours.
The owners of flats above the premises maintained their objection despite the reduction in licensing hours, their concerns centred around music noise from within the building and noise and smoke from those standing outside late in the evening. Those who appeared at the online hearing said the properties were holiday let businesses although they and family also stayed there occasionally.
The proposed hours put forward is up until 2359 on Sunday to Wednesday, with last orders half an hour prior to that, with Thursday, Friday and Saturday opening until 0130 with last orders at 0100. Similar times would apply at Bank holidays and national holidays.
Business partners Adam Pile and Nicholas Bell told the hearing that it was not their aim to be a nightclub and were hoping to fulfil a gap at the ‘top end’ of the market.
They said they were prepared to continue talking with residents to ensure that any disruption was kept to a minimum and said they were only likely to have non-amplified music with separate entrances for the coffeehouse-bistro business on the ground floor with the lower floor cocktail bar entrance, to the back of the building.
“This is a venue not likely to attract people out to drink ten pints with whisky chasers, it aims to be more upmarket,” said solicitor for the new owners, Philip Day.
Requested conditions of the new licence include complying with relevant staff training, door staffing levels and the maintenance of closed circuit tv to cover both entrances with no waste to be removed from the premises between 2200 and 0800.
The committee decision on the application is expected to be announced by the end of the week.