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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
RESOLVED – That the Sub Committee, having considered the application on its individual merits, the committee papers, the statutory guidance made under section 182 of the Licensing Act 200 and the Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy, submissions made by the applicant and all other parties, and the oral evidence given by the applicant and objectors during the hearing in its determination of the matter: GRANTED the application; subject to the agreed conditions with South Wales Police and Environmental Health / Pollution Control; and the additional condition that the terminal hour for late night refreshment on Sundays be reduced from 1am to 12am.
There were none.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED – That the Sub Committee, having considered the application on its individual merits, the committee papers, the statutory guidance made under section 182 of the Licensing Act 200 and the Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy, submissions made by the applicant and all other parties, and the oral evidence given by the applicant and objectors during the hearing in its determination of the matter: GRANTED the application; subject to the agreed conditions with South Wales Police and Environmental Health / Pollution Control; and the additional condition that the terminal hour for late night refreshment on Sundays be reduced from 1am to 12am.
Present: Applicant: Areen Mahmood (Director, Halwar Desserts Ltd.) Other Persons: Hassan Goharjouy (Local Resident) The Application An application for the grant of a Premises Licence had been received from Halwa Desserts Ltd in respect of CK Desserts, 324 Cowbridge Road East, Canton, Cardiff, CF5 1HD. The applicant applied for the following: (1) In respect of the following licensable activities: (i) The provision of late night refreshment (indoors). (2) Description of Premises (as stated by applicant): “The premise is a small shop with adjacent shops next to it. It's located on a commercial street with no flats on top. The shop serves warmed up desserts like waffles, brownies, frozen donuts and cookie doughs from either oven, microwave or waffle plate. We also serve milkshakes and ice cream from our soft ice cream machine. We have several fridges and freezers and some space to store our stock. We have a small toilet allocated at the back and only allocated on the front, ground floor of the building. There are a few stools for customers to sit on whitest waiting for their order but there is no space to dine in. We deal with take aways and collections. We small number of collections and mainly deal with deliveries. The front of the shop has a hollow wall to break up the waiting area and kitchen”. (3) Unless otherwise indicated the premises may be open to the public during the following hours and for any hours consequential to the non-standard timings: Monday to Sunday: 17:30 to 00:00 hours (4) To provide licensable activities during the following hours: (ii) The provision of late night refreshment (indoors): Monday to Sunday: 23:00 to 00:00 hours Applicant Representations Addressing the Sub Committee, Mr Areen Mahmood explained that he had owned the premises since January of this year. It was a dessert shop where they warmed up pre-made food like waffles and doughnuts, and served drinks like milkshakes. There was not much that they produced on site. He explained that representations had been received from the police and the licensing authority. He had originally applied for 11am-1am every day, with the intention being to close around 12:30am with some leeway to finish off late orders. Pollution Control had raised concerns over noise due to an incorrectly installed extractor fan, which he intended to remove as it wasn’t in use. It had been suggested that the opening hours be reduced to 11am-12am from Monday to Thursday, and 11am-1am from Friday to Sunday, which he was happy to agree to. He acknowledged the objections made by local residents and explained that while there were no flats directly above the shop, part of the back of the premises was close to some residential properties. The residents there had raised concerns in the past about noise and in particular the extractor fan, which would be removed. There had been no noise complaints since he took over in January, and he had changed some of the employees. He didn’t want any issues with the neighbours, and would address any complaints going forward. He suggested that noise was not a significant issue on the premises, as the trade was almost entirely delivery-based and they didn’t use any loud cooking equipment. He didn’t intend to cause nuisance outside by blocking any paths or roads, and would do what he could to reduce noise caused by deliveries. It was a busy road, so there would always be cars driving by, but they used their own delivery drivers so they had control over how they behaved. Regarding the objection from the landlord regarding antisocial behaviour, he suggested that this was more likely related to the bar across from the shop that was open until midnight, or from a nearby pizza restaurant which was open until 4am. In his experience, drunk people didn’t want desserts, and the premises tended not to attract rowdy customers. The premises did not play music or anything else to try and keep customers in the shop. Responding to questions from the Sub Committee, the applicant explained that the average waiting time for a delivery driver could vary, but if it was a particularly busy day they would normally wait in their car. The Sub Committee asked how he would minimise noise and disruption outside the premises, and heard that the licensing authority had asked for the door to be kept closed after 11pm. The applicant was happy to do that, noting that it was normally closed anyway, both when it was cold outside and during the summer, because the air conditioning worked better with the door closed. He added that staff would be given conflict management training, though he did not expect there to be many issues of that nature. Members asked whether the applicant would be willing to accept a further restriction on the opening hours on Sunday night from 1am to 12am. He confirmed that he would be happy to comply with that, as he wasn’t sure it would be worthwhile to stay open until 1am on a Sunday anyway. Other Persons Representations Speaking as a local resident, Mr Hassan Goharjouy explained that he was the landlord of the neighbouring building, and several of his tenants had expressed concern about the application due to the amount of noise and because they had children. The building was already very noisy due to the cars parked there, including delivery drivers for the dessert shop, and the front of the shop was often messy, with rats having been seen. He explained that he had contacted the council in the past about the noise, and the fan on the roof could be very loud late at night. In his experience, it was a relatively loud business that attracted loud customers, and this was a real disturbance for his tenants and their young children. Members asked how he was sure the issues with noise and rubbish were being caused by the dessert shop rather than by the bar or takeaway business next door. The resident explained that he and other residents recognised the delivery drivers, and the dessert shop did not have a back yard to store its rubbish like the pizza place did. Responding to questions from the Sub Committee, the local resident estimated that he had last made a complaint to the council about five or six months ago, though the issues had started before then. He believed that the fan was still making a noise. He had been the landlord of the building since 2014 and had not had any issues with the previous owners of the premises, which had included a cake shop and a coffee shop. Regarding the extractor fan issue, the applicant explained that the previous owner told him he had an agreement with the landlord to install it, but this turned out not to be the case. There had been no complaints since he took over, with the last one in July 2024. He was in the process of removing the fan, but it took a while. Summing Up In summing up, the local resident reiterated that he was representing his tenants, who were not happy with how the premises was being run. It was loud and busy for a small shop and there was rubbish outside, and the extractor fan hadn’t been removed as promised. In summing up, the applicant emphasised that it was a small dessert shop which tended not to attract rowdy customers. He felt that the noise and nuisance experienced by local residents was more likely to be caused by the bar and pizza restaurant close by rather than his premises, but he would take any complaints seriously. He apologised for having taken so long to remove the extractor fan, but assured the Sub Committee it was not in use. The premises had its own delivery drivers whose behaviour could be controlled. He suggested that previous owners might have operated until midnight without the appropriate late night refreshment licence, but he intended to do it the proper way. Decision The Sub Committee noted that the applicant had agreed the conditions with South Wales Police and Environmental Health / Pollution Control and as a result they had withdrawn their objections. The applicant had also agreed to reduce the hours he could sell late night refreshment on Sunday (going into Monday) from 1am to 12am. The Sub Committee carefully considered the representations from other persons but did not feel that there was evidence that the licence, if granted, would undermine the licensing objectives subject to the agreed conditions. RESOLVED – That the Sub Committee, having considered the application on its individual merits, the committee papers, the statutory guidance made under section 182 of the Licensing Act 200 and the Council’s Statement of Licensing Policy, submissions made by the applicant and all other parties, and the oral evidence given by the applicant and objectors during the hearing in its determination of the matter: GRANTED the application; subject to the agreed conditions with South Wales Police and Environmental Health / Pollution Control; and the additional condition that the terminal hour for late night refreshment on Sundays be reduced from 1am to 12am.
There were none.
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