Councillors are set to decide the future of a restaurant, following a major incident and alleged breaches of licensing conditions.
On Wednesday, September 9, a Hastings Borough Council licensing panel is due to consider a review application for Grand Pera Turkish restaurant in Harold Place, Hastings.
The review is supported by the council’s environmental health department, which had concerns linked to a major incident in December last year which saw several people taken to hospital as a result of "potential carbon monoxide poisoning".
In a submission calling for the restaurant’s licence to be revoked, environmental health officer Sharon White says the source of the carbon monoxide leak was identified as “a petrol generator located in a corridor of the Grand Pera restaurant”.
She said: “The act of operating a petrol generator indoors, particularly within an enclosed corridor, is an inherently dangerous practice that demonstrates: serious failure of risk assessment by the licence holder … [and] a significant and preventable breach of the Public Safety licensing objective under the Licensing Act 2003.
“The event caused real harm, required a multi-agency emergency response, and had the potential to result in fatalities.”
She said council officers visited the premises and Mustafa Ergun, the restaurant’s premises licence holder, told officers the generator had been “there to maintain power to the fridges when the mains power had been cut due to an unpaid electricity account".
The review application has been brought by the council’s licensing team, which alleges “persistent breaches” of conditions attached to the restaurant’s premises licence.
Some of these alleged breaches are linked to the use of an outdoor seating area.
Officers say the restaurant’s licence prevents it from serving alcohol to customers sitting in its outdoor seating area, or even just allowing customers to take drinks outside with them.
Officers say they had raised this matter with Mr Ergun on several occasions — including in a final written warning in May.
Despite these warnings, officers allege there is evidence drinks have continued to be served to customers sitting in this area.
Application documents include an allegation that this was witnessed first-hand by a council and police licensing officer during an official visit to the premises in July.
In the application, senior licensing officer Kirstie Rolfe said: “Based on persistent breaches, we have no confidence in Mr Ergun’s ability to manage the premises or adhere to the conditions of the premises licence.”
The restaurant’s current licence allows it to sell alcohol from 10am to 11.30pm, seven days a week and until 2am on New Year’s Eve.
It also allows for the sale of ‘late night refreshments’ — a term used for any hot food or drink sold after 11pm — until the same terminal hours .
All interested parties, which include Mr Ergun, environmental health, Sussex Police and residents living in the Queens Apartment building, will have an opportunity to address the panel before it makes its decision.
The panel’s decision can be challenged through a legal appeal by any party to the hearing.
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