Border conflict sees club alcohol licence revoked
Visitors broke Covid rules, but bosses say venue’s in Moorlands rather than Cheshire
A SHOOTING club on the edge of the Staffordshire Moorlands has had its licence to serve booze revoked after people were caught breaching coronavirus restrictions.
Police found visitors eating mince pies and drinking wine onsite at Cloudside Shooting Grounds, near Rushton Spencer, in December 2020.
At that time hospitality venues in Staffordshire were only allowed to operate takeaway, delivery and drive through services and customers were not permitted to consume food and drink on the premises under Tier 3 rules.
Neighbouring Cheshire was under Tier 2 regulations at the time, which allowed customers to consume alcohol inside a licensed venue if drinks were accompanied by a ‘substantial meal’ – but customers had to be served while they were seated and remain seated while eating and drinking.
Shooting ground bosses insisted that the club was in Cheshire because it had a Cheshire postal address, a licensing hearing has been told.
But police and nearby residents said that the premises was in Staffordshire – and it was Staffordshire Moorlands District Council’s licensing subcommittee that carried out the premises licence review, which concluded on June 10.
The committee had previously met to review the premises licence in April but the hearing was adjourned due to technical difficulties.
Licensing officer Lisa Roberts from Staffordshire Police told the committee: “On December 19 2020 a report was received that an informant had been walking past Cloudside Shooting Grounds and customers were seen inside with drinks in their hands. They said the TV was on and the car park was full of vehicles.
“PC Higgins and PC Redman attended the shooting grounds. Officers entered the clubhouse to find five people seated at three different tables within the dining area, consuming what appeared to be wine and mince pies.
“PC Redman physically showed a mobile device that showed a Government site with the premises postcode entered into it, clearly showing that they are in Tier 3. The officers requested that the five people eating and drinking leave as soon as possible, which they did.”
Business director and premises licence holder Maurice Snelling was given advice on December 24 by Staffordshire Moorlands District
Council about which parts of his business could open and which could not under Tier 3 rules.
But on December 30 two officers from Staffordshire Police returned to the shooting grounds to complete a premises licence compliance check and found four people with food and drink on a table in front of them. The committee was told the people were under a gazebo on a patio area which forms part of the licensed premises.
CCTV footage from five days in December 2020 was reviewed by police and revealed that the premises had been open and serving alcohol and food.
A police report stated that the CCTV footage “also highlighted further breaches of the premises licence as it showed guns left unattended on top of and next to sofas in the lounge, guns being carried through the licensed area of the premises that were not in slips or gun cases and the gun room left open with no staff member present. The premises does allow accompanied children into the premises and when guns are left unattended on the 16th December a child is playing in the area next to them.”
Licensing officer Roberts said: “The premises was busy and on some of the days crowded with customers, There was no social distancing, with customers walking around with drinks, standing without masks and only a small number of customers and staff taking Covid-19 precautions.
“It is clear on each of the days the footage was recorded the premises were not adhering to the Tier 3 regulations and were open for business. The premises was not adhering to Tier 2 regulations.
“This is the worst example of a lack of compliance with the coronavirus legislation by a licensed premises in Staffordshire and due to the premises licence holder/designated premises supervisor being directly involved shows that they themselves have a blatant disregard for the regulations, which is a serious failing of compliance and further undermines the objectives of public safety and the
protection of children from harm.” Staffordshire Moorlands District Council issued a fixed penalty notice in January for the breach of Covid-19 regulations and the fine was paid later that month.
Duncan Craig, who represented Mr Snelling at the hearing, said Mr Maurice had used the Track and Trace app, which indicated the premises was in Cheshire CW1, as his guidance as to what tier the venue was in.
Mr Craig added: “As far as he is concerned these premises are situated in Cheshire, notwithstanding the fact that it is licensed by Staffordshire Moorlands. Just because someone is licensed by one authority it doesn’t necessarily mean it follows that the county they are in is in accordance with that.
“The postal address is Congleton, which is Cheshire, It is a CW12 postcode which is a Crewe postcode. There is a huge number of letters from your authority, from Staffordshire Police, local residents, the DWP (Department of Work and Pensions), all of which say the premises is in Cheshire.
“Based on all that, it was a perfectly reasonable conclusion for him to arrive at and if you arrive at that conclusion it casts a whole different light on his alleged culpability.
“They were carrying on in a manner that would suggest they were just doing what they were lawfully permitted to do. As soon as they were told to stop they stopped straight away.
“He is especially upset at the suggestion he has in some way consciously and deliberately sought to cock a snook at the regulations. If he’s made a mistake he’s sorry and certainly did not want to upset anybody or inadvertently breach the regulations.
“At no point did he intentionally breach any regulations. He’s got Track and Trace posters, there was a thermometer there being utilised, alcohol gel in place. Guests were asked to wear a mask.
“Maurice’s position is ‘I may have fallen below the standard inadvertently and there may have been some incidences where Tier 2 wasn’t complied with, but there was certainly no intention to breach any rules.’ He has held this licence for a large period – 11 years – and he has held firearms certificates for a long time. You don’t hold a licence like that by not being a responsible member of society.”
But committee chairman Councillor Brian Johnson said: “I don’t think anybody disputes the fact the postcode is Cheshire. That is a means, as I understand it, for Royal Mail and the Post Office to deliver letters.
“It took me all of 90 seconds to ask Google to show me the borders of Staffordshire, which shows the premises is in Staffordshire.”