Football Club Granted Extended Alcohol and Music License Despite Residents’ Noise Concerns

A Conwy sub-licensing committee has granted a community football club permission to sell alcohol and play music for longer and later – despite Old Colwyn residents’ concerns about noise.
Llanelian Road-based Colwyn Bay Football Club applied to Conwy, seeking permission for a variation in their premises licence.
The club previously had various restrictions on its licence and could only serve alcohol between 6 pm and 11 pm Monday to Friday; between 12 pm and 11 pm Saturdays; and 12 pm until 6 pm on Sundays.
Now the club will be able to serve booze between 11 am – 11 pm Sunday to Thursday and from 11 am until 1 am on Fridays and Saturdays.
The club can now also play live and recorded indoor music until 1 am on Fridays – Sundays as well as the provision of dance.
The council, though, says the club’s supervisor must join a pub watch scheme and has ordered that licensed security staff must be employed after 12 am.
The committee has also said staff must leave quietly after midnight and not empty bottle bins.
Doors and windows must also remain closed during nights to help prevent noise.
A late-night complaint telephone number will be given to residents, sound systems turned down for the last hour, and smokers and vapers are forbidden from obstructing doorways, ensuring they are kept closed.
The licence also has several other conditions in place.
C.R Kelly was one of several residents who objected to the plans.
“I object most strongly to this application,” they said in a letter.
“Already when they have these events, the thumping music goes on until 11.50 pm. Then there are the noisy exits, car doors slamming, and noisy farewells. Also, the premises are a cabin, which, as I understand, gets very hot inside, so the backdoor is opened and the noise to local houses is even louder.”
But speaking at the licensing hearing earlier this month, Colwyn Bay Football Club’s Anna Openshaw said that the club wanted to cater for the community.
“The reason we are doing this is to not have to put TENS (temporary events notice applications) in each time, and actually this way (applying for an extension) we are regulated more closely.
“When it comes to events, we only have events on if the residents or local people want to put a certain event on, a birthday, a wedding. The reason we’ve asked to start at 11 am is because we have a lot of enquiries about funeral breakfasts, so we are just trying to cover all hours.”
She added: “We are all volunteers in the football club, so it’s not money making in any way, shape, or form. It is just to make things a lot easier for everyone.”

By Richard Evans – Local Democracy Reporter