A new “gastrostyle” bar and bistro is to open in Liverpool City Centre after being granted a licence to serve alcohol until 3am.
A premises licence has been awarded to city businessman Robert Gutmann to operate a new venue on Slater Street, named Red Lion, which could open within weeks. Liverpool Council ’s licensing and gambling sub-committee heard the application this morning.
The licence will allow the new site to sell alcohol, play live and recorded music, and the provision of films, performance of dance and plays, from Monday to Sunday from 8am until 3am. Mr Gutmann is the proprietor of a number of venues on Lark Lane and last month secured a change to the licence at his bar Polidor on the popular South Liverpool stretch to serve alcohol to customers without the need for table service.
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Karl Bruder, acting on behalf of the applicant, said Red Lion would have 20 staff and would be a 60:40 split of food and alcohol. He added that it would not operate as a “purely public house format” nor was the description of the venue as a gastropub “not just semantics”.
Addressing the 3am closing time, Mr Bruder said that by comparison to other locations around Slater Street and Liverpool City Centre, it was “diluted” and “tame”. He added that the applicant had sought to close earlier than other venues local to the proposed location.
An agreement was reached between the applicant’s solicitor and the Police Licensing Officer to ensure an incident book would be maintained “to record any activity of a violent, criminal or antisocial nature.” In addition, whenever the premises operates beyond midnight, a minimum of 2 SIA registered door supervisors must be on duty from 9pm.
A CCTV system must also be installed accordingly. All windows and external doors must be kept closed from 11pm with signs “prominently displayed at all exits requesting patrons to respect the needs of local residents and leave the area quietly” after discussions with Environmental Health. Residents had objected to the proposals, with concerns raised regarding noise from bins being emptied and “groups of drunks causing a fuss.”
An objection raised by another business owner was described as “mischievous” by Mr Bruder and dismissed claims made that the new venue would not be a priority for the applicant, and said this was “disingenuous.” “They don’t have bonafide concerns,” he said.
