The Anchor Tavern - Objection letter
Argyll and Bute Council · 8 September 2022
Back to Argyll and Bute Licensing Board — 8 September 2022 and its agenda
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Ian McKillop 44 Ardbeg Road Rothesay Isle of Bute Phone: 07421352496 E mail ianbmckillop@hotmail.com Argyll and Bute Licensing Board Kilmory, Lochgilphead, Argyll and Bute Dear Sir/MadamPort Bannatyne. Application to vary license Anchor Tavern, Port Bannatyne, Isle of Bute Although not a resident of Port Bannatyne I am a full time resident of the Isle of Bute and have been a regular at the Anchor Tavern ,Port Bannatyne for the past 6 years. I am not a shareholder of the Port Bannatyne Development Trust . The Anchor Tavern has been a wet trade pub/bar consisting of a Public House and a separate Off Sales. When Mr Bell took over he changed the off licence into a pool room for those regulars who wished to play pool. There was also a darts board in the public bar area and during the winter months regular Pool and Darts competitions were held among the clients of licensed premised on the Island. Mr Bell closed the pub due to a variety of reasons including Covid restrictions and it was put up for sale. The Port Bannatyne Development Trust was formed with the aim of purchasing one of the closed down licenced premises to be a community pub. Eventually they were able to secure funds/grants and purchased the Anchor Tavern. They conducted a survey and some 262 were completed.Some 35% of these were completed by residents of Port Bannatyne which amounted to 17% of the residents of Port Bannatyne. Of the 262 who completed the survey some 82% wanted a community pub while 80% wanted a community café . The questions posed were not an either or, one could express a preference for both.
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[Type the sender company name] Page 2 In their business plan the PBDT stated that they wanted to establish a community owned Pub however it appears they now wish the whole premises including the pub and the café to be a community hub for all the community. Since PBDT bought the premises the pool room ,which has a separate entrance from the pub has been developed into a community hub/café with seating for 12 persons. However this hub is still part of the licensed premises and at the moment no one under 18 yrs of age is allowed entry into either the pub or the community hub/café There is no longer a darts board so 2 of the “community facilities” are no longer available. It appears from PBDP web site that the trust were unaware of this fact as they state on their website http://www.pbdt.org/ that“The community hub next door can be rented for meetings for free (£30 deposit required) for a maximum of 12 people. All ages are welcome in this area.”, They appear to have recently discovered their error and hence the application before you. I am now aware that they have applied for a variation to the licence to allow Bar meals /take away or delivery . I assume that this means ordering and eating a take away from another establishment on Bute as there are no facilities withing the Anchor Tavern to prepare/cook any sort of meal. I assume they will provide cutlery and plates however the tables are not ideal for eating meals from, they are too low, being normal bar tables ,the height of a coffee table. . They have also applied to allow children and young people into the entire public house premises including, I am led to believe infants under the age of 5yrs with a specification that children/young persons are not allowed on the designated area around the bar in the public bar area. I am unsure whether the application is purely with the proviso that they are coming in with an adult for a meal. If so problems could arise if the take away/delivery was not delivered prior to 8pm cut off or that indeed there is a cut off time ie such as 8pm after which they are not allowed. I do not feel that the public bar area is suitable for children and young persons, the premises are small with a capacity of around 40 to 50 people, the clientele are ,in the main, a mixture of locals ,holiday home owners and visiting crew from the marina.This is further reduced on the “music nights” as around 10 musicians turn up and occupy a full section of the pub. The clientele age group are in general over 40yrs ,and they come into the Anchor Tavern for a drink and a chat/discussion. The middle aged elderly locals, in particular the males , have always used the pub as a meeting place to meet friends, for a drink. Due to the size and layout it can become very crowded with people sitting/standing in close proximity to each other and, as in any other wet led pub discussions can become heated ,particularly amongst the regulars, strong language is sometimes heard ,just from force of habit. On a few occasions some people have been barred due to their behaviour. Children/young persons should not be subjected to this, it is too late after the event. In relation to children under 5 there are no suitable areas for changing facilities, both the ladies and gents are tiny and only one person at a time in the ladies with a urinal and one toilet in the gents. Nor is there any other space in
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[Type the sender company name] Page 3 the public bar area which would not be in full view of the public. The wash hand basins in both the ladies and gents have no area around them to allow baby changing facilities. The area defined where children/young persons would not be allowed, ie around the bar area would further restrict the capacity of the premises and children would have to encroach on the bar area to gain access to the gents toilet. If darts were to be reintroduced the only place for the darts board would be where it was originally ,on the wall to the left (as looking at it) of the door to the ladies toilet. This reduces the capacity of the seating by some 10 people and it could present a danger to anyone but in particular children if they were not conscious/aware of darts being thrown while they were trying to enter/leave the ladies. A compromise , although not ideal ,would be to allow children/young persons over the age of 5yrs into what was the off sales, latterly the pool room and now a community café. This is entirely separate from the Public Bar with an entrance from the street. If parents wanted to bring children then this area, which seats about 12 people, would be ideal, alcoholic drinks would be served via a hatch already in place and children could be allowed to enter the pub to use the ladies/gents under supervision from a parent. Meals could also be delivered into this area if required. It would not impinge on enjoyment of the drinkers in the public bar without having to be aware of the presence of younger persons possibly running about and misbehaving, The only drawback is that there are no toilet facilities in the café area and at the moment it would entail leaving the café via the entrance and entering the pub via the pub door to use the toilet , perhaps the elected committee could develop a plan to allow access to the toilets without entering the bar. There is one last point, the first AGM is being held on the 3rd September when a committee will be elected to run the pub. At the moment the pub is being run by an unelected steering committee , surely the elected committee should be making the decision whether to apply for a variation to the licence re children/young persons being allowed. I have also noted that the current license holder will not be on the committee as she is not standing for election. Yours faithfully Ian McKillop 23/08/2022