City college gets alcohol licence
Heart of Worcestershire College’s Worcester campus in Deansway has reinstated a training restaurant for its hospitality students
A city college has been granted an alcohol licence for its training restaurant.
Heart of Worcestershire College’s Worcester campus in Deansway has reinstated a training restaurant for its hospitality students and wants to add a licensed bar.
Worcester City Council approved the college’s application at a licensing sub-committee on Monday (November 24).
Peter Robinson, a vice principal at the college, said: “This application is to support the creation of a training facility at the All Saints building.
“We already have a facility in Redditch which includes a licensed bar. We have had this kind of facility at Heart of Worcestershire’s Worcester campus in the past but as a consequence of reducing numbers of hospitality students, we decided to close it.
“I’m delighted to say that in the last two years we’ve had a surge in those interested in going into the hospitality sector so we are qualifying between 30 and 40 students on an annual basis, often as chefs but also as business owners.”
Mr Robinson said the college is keen to give students experience before heading out into the world of work.
“The bar is not a social bar – it is part of the restaurant,” he said. “Absolutely able to serve beers and ciders but the vast majority will be about presenting wine, about which wines go best with which courses, and how to pour wine for customers.”
A member of the public had raised concern the licence would add to problems of “drink and drug-taking at the back of the college” around Quay Street.
But Mr Robinson said entry to the restaurant will be via the front of the building, adding: “This facility is not for those who would look to have excessive drinking, it is for people who wish to come and eat.”
He said the restaurant will be open 6pm to 9pm, “probably two nights a week”.
Most visitors to the restaurant are students’ parents, he said, but other groups such as the WI do use the Redditch campus restaurant.