Pop-up restaurants and bars could feature on Bournemouth’s beaches
Applications have been lodged for a wide range of events.
Pop-up restaurants and bars could become a summer feature of Bournemouth’s beaches if council plans are approved next week.
Five separate licence applications have been lodged, seeking permission for a wide range of events to be held and food and drink served along much of the Bournemouth seafront.
But they have drawn dozens of objections with concerns raised by people living near to the beaches saying they were “considerably alarmed” by the proposals and that it could bring back disorder experienced in the town last year.
Two of the applications seek licences for sections of the beach that are not licensed – one at East Cliff and the other for Toft Beach.
They propose allowing a range of events to take place as well as temporary cafes and bars from 10am until 10pm seven days a week from April to September.
Both had originally also included the sale of alcohol for drinking both on and off the site but, following Dorset Police concerns, it would now only be allowed alongside food within the licensed area.
Alongside these, the council has also proposed revisions to existing licences for the beach at the West Cliff wedding area, to the east of Boscombe Pier and around Bournemouth Pier.
The changes include allowing the sale of alcohol, extending the time music can be played until 10pm and expanding the range of events that can be hosted.
The council said the five licences would “enable outdoor pop-up catering sites” to be opened “across the seafront”.
It said this would “enhance the existing offering” for people visiting in the summer and that they are similar to the Mudeford Quay licence which was approved at the end of last month.
But the applications have drawn opposition from people living close to the seafront who said they would give the council “carte blanche” to hold events while “circumventing the controls and safeguards of having to make individual applications”.
And Alan Dove, the chairman of Bournemouth Townwatch, said the sale of alcohol would lead to issues of anti-social behaviour and crime across the area as experienced last year.
“The scale and size of the proposed premises, in the hundreds even with social distancing in place, will place significant additional alcohol consumption directly onto the beaches,” he said.
“Alcohol is already known as a key ingredient in the problems experienced on the beach in 2020,” he added. “It would seem much more appropriate that the capacity of the premises be restricted and this capacity to be appropriate to a small scale pop-up facility.”
He said events would “stretch already limited police resources away from the town centre” at night and asked that the hours be reduced to 6pm.
As a result of the objections, and because they are proposals submitted by the council, all five applications will be determined at two meetings of the council’s licensing committee next week.
The first, on Tuesday, will include the two new licences while the remainder will be considered on Wednesday.