Following a meeting with concerned local residents, The Bubble Room has decided to withdraw its recent licence application for an additional hour. They will then reapply so that their trading times remain as they currently are.
The Bubble Room were granted a change of use of 45 London Road, from A1 retail to A3/A4 restaurant and bar, earlier this year to enable them to extend their businesses into the neighbouring property currently occupied by the Post Office - which will relocate to 12 West Street.
Subsequently they submitted an application for a new licence to; sell and supply alcohol until 2am from Thursday to Saturday and midnight from Sunday to Wednesday; play live music until midnight Thursday to Saturday and 11pm from Sunday to Wednesday; play recorded music until 1am Thursday to Saturday and midnight from Sunday to Wednesday.
The licence application included 45 London Road, as well as number 47 which they currently operate. Operating times Sunday to Wednesday were to remain the same, whilst they were requesting an extension by one hour to 2am for the sale and supply of alcohol from Thursday to Saturday, with a 2.30am closure on these days.
According to the report prepared for the Licensing Act Sub-Committee 15 objections from local residents have been submitted to CEC in response to the licence application from the Bubble Room.
A resident from Stevens Street wrote "Noise from customers gathering on the pavement outside the Bubble Room is now a permanent feature of life until the early hours, worse at weekends and in fine weather.
"The simple fact is that these premises were not constructed or designed for their current use - they are traditional (Victorian) shop premises. They are not soundproofed or capable of being soundproofed, a situation made worse by the fact the doors fronting London Road are actually designed to open fully onto the street."
Another Stevens Street resident wrote "We are blighted by noise, inconsiderate parking, cooking smells and drunken loutish behaviour, largely from the Bubble Room clientele.
"There is no doubt that further extending the licensing hours and allowing live music to be played until midnight and recorded music until 1am will further damage the amenity of my home and living there with my family. Surely these sorts of hours should be the preserve of town centre venues, not small residential villages like Alderley Edge; they are inappropriate."
Speaking at the Annual Parish Meeting on Monday, 14th May, Cllr Frank Keegan said "An extension of premises from the Bubble Room into the former Post Office building was not really a welcome application in planning terms, but it will be even less so in licensing terms as the licence extension seeks to create a nightclub in the heart of the village, very close to residential amenity. The refurbishment of the No. 15 Wine Bar may carry similar threats when that licensing application comes forward."
The Mason family released the following statement regarding their recent licence application.
"We have always been interested in extending the Bubble Room in to the adjacent property (the Post Office) so that we can be more efficient with a larger kitchen and create additional dining areas, which will allow us to compete more fairly with the other larger restaurant premises in the village. However, we delayed our plans in order for a satisfactory relocation of the Post Office to be confirmed.
"Having now obtained planning we have applied for the Licence under the Licensing Act 2003. Under the advice of our Licensing solicitor we also applied for an extension of one hour to our existing permitted operating times with the view that this would allow us more flexibility and bring us in line with other operators in the village who have been granted similar later Licenses. This does not necessarily mean we would actually operate to the later time.
"All Licensed premises within the village have residential properties within close proximity. However, mindful of our position we arranged a meeting with the local residents, who had formally objected to our Licence Application, to discuss their concerns. This meeting was very productive and we took on board their comments. Whilst we consider we do not operate any differently to other operators in the village, we have taken a view that in case our later Licence exasperates any issues the residents may have we have decided to withdraw our Application for the extra hour and amend our Application so that our trading times are identical to our present Licence.
"We have noted comments we are trying to create a nightclub within the centre of the village. This is not the case, we merely wanted to update our Premises Licence in line with the new Act and other operators.
"Since opening in December 2005 we have not received any formal notices of complaint from the Local Authorities and we actively encourage our neighbours to contact us if they have any concerns.
"We are a local family, running a local business. We are very active in supporting local schools and charities by donating prizes for raffles and auctions and also organising fund raising events. Every year we pay the Parish Council a substantial contribution towards the Christmas lights for the benefit of the village. We are investing in the village by hopefully extending in to 45 London Road using local contractors, creating jobs for local persons and business for local suppliers.
"We are disappointed that we get no support from our local Parish Council as they object to everything we propose, despite them having no objection to the conversion and extension of No.15 (The Botanist), which was also granted a later liquor Licence to our existing operating hours, or initially to the proposed planning application for PizzaExpress for the Wine Rack premises on the opposite corner of Stevens Street to ourselves.
"We are very passionate about our business and Alderley Edge, which is why we are keen to continue investing in the village ensuring at the same time that our operation does not cause concern to any of our neighbours."
