Client: high end bar-restaurant operator

Project: Newcastle Expert Licence Assessment  

What were MAKE asked to do?

The client, a high-quality restaurant-bar operator, was seeking to open a venue with a 2am licence inside Newcastle’s cumulative impact area. Unusually, possibly uniquely, the council and police were both supportive. However, a competitor was clearly worried about the impact on their business of this new upmarket operator and objected. MAKE were instructed to complete an independent expert witness report on the potential impact of the new venue on the licensing objectives, local amenity and give our opinion in court about our findings. 

How did MAKE do it?

• We visited the site and undertook a comprehensive audit of the area around the venue using ethnographic researchers.

• We analysed crime statistics both of this area and around the client’s other venues.

• We visited a number of other venues operated by this company and recorded any impact their customers had on the licensing objectives. 

What happened next?

We found there was nigligible chance that the opening of this venue would contribute to existing issues of crime and nuisance in Newcastle. Whilst we have no stake in the outcome, the applicant was pleased when the court accepted our report and the licence was granted in full. The objector was made to pay all the costs. 

The venue has proved to be free of problems.

What unique value did MAKE bring to this project?

Because we have created a typology of the different user groups present in the night-time economy work, we were able identify the likely behavioural traits of the customers typical of this particular operator. This counteracts the often powerful and pervasive idea that any venue that opens late will automatically cause problems. This is not the case. Hours of operation are almost useless in predicting impact. It is customer type that is key.