Crane & Tap Twickenham: Match-Day Drinks Rule Faces Hearing

The Crane & Tap, opposite Twickenham station, has asked the council to scrap a rule that stops it selling alcohol on stadium event days except with a table meal. Four residents living around the bar have objected. A licensing sub-committee will decide on Monday 12 October.

The papers for the hearing were published on the council’s committee website. The meeting starts at 7.30pm. It is held online and is webcast.

The rule the bar wants removed

The premises licence for 1 Brewery Lane carries this as condition 12:

“Whenever there is an event, either in relation to the rugby, a sporting event or concert at Twickenham RFU, with a capacity of in excess of 30,000+ intoxicating liquor shall not be sold or supplied on the premises otherwise than to persons taking table meals there.”

The licence holder, Twickenham Pizza Enterprises Ltd, wants to replace it. The new condition would only require staff to count customers with a clicker on event days and log the number at least every 30 minutes, for police and licensing officers to inspect.

The existing rule on door staff would stay. Two licensed SIA door staff must be on duty from at least two hours before kick-off until closing. The company says they would now wear high-visibility tabards.

The same application also asks to change the layout:

• a new cellar area
• a partition between the kitchen and the bar
• a better staff area behind the bar
• loose seating in place of the fixed seating in one corner
• doorways into the outside seating area

It also offers a new condition that food will be available throughout opening hours. Drinking hours would not change. The licence allows alcohol from 7am to 11.30pm Monday to Saturday and 9am to 11pm on Sunday.

Why the bar says it needs the change

In its written response, dated 28 September, the company says it took over the Crane & Tap after the previous licence holder went into receivership. It says it did not know about the event-day rule at first, and put it right once told.

It says the bar was closed Monday to Friday through July and August “due to insufficient custom”. It cites the cost of living, the rise in employers’ National Insurance and the higher minimum wage. It also lists a £10,512 annual service charge to the landlord and a council tax bill it puts at £21,250, now that the premises are out of receivership.

“Other premises in Twickenham are not subject to this restriction,” the response says. “Food will still be available, but it is important customers know they do not have to purchase it.” It adds that customers watching a televised event are “happy to sit down and watch and have a drink and then come up to the bar as necessary.”

What the residents say

All four objections come from people living in the flats around and above the bar. The council’s own report summarises their concerns:

• more noise and anti-social behaviour for the residential block next door
• customers blocking the access gate to the flats
• an alleged history of not following the rule on RFU match days
• the change from a restaurant to a “vertical drinking” bar
• litter

Several objections describe a private party on the night of 12 September. Residents say amplified music was heard inside closed flats until about 11.46pm. They say people stayed outside talking loudly until about 2.15am.

One objector says the bar sits on the natural walking route from the stadium to the station. Two objectors ask for strict conditions if the change is granted. One wants event-day drinking kept to seated customers with a fixed capacity cap.

No responsible authority objected. That list includes the police and the council’s environmental health team.

The bar’s answer on the party

The company says the 12 September event was a private party for the family of an Irish dancing world champion. It says it held a Temporary Event Notice allowing alcohol sales until 1am. About 90 people attended a three-course meal. It says the music finished at 11.30pm, the event closed at 1am, and some guests stayed inside waiting for taxis.

It says much of the trouble outside comes from the communal square in front of the bar. That space is owned by the landlord, not the bar, and other venues and passers-by use it.

The company has now offered to:

• stop holding similar private functions at the Crane & Tap
• play only incidental background music
• close its outside seating at 10pm every day
• close at 10.30pm on stadium event days
• keep not selling canned beer for takeaway

What it means for you

The next big events at the Allianz Stadium are three England men’s internationals, according to England Rugby’s fixture list:

Whatever the committee decides will apply on those days. Our match-day road closures page covers getting around the stadium.

The sub-committee can grant the application, grant it with extra conditions, grant part of it, or refuse it. It can only weigh the points raised in the four objections. Both the company and the objectors can appeal to the magistrates’ court within 21 days of being told the decision.

If you live nearby, you cannot add a new objection now; the representation period has closed. You can watch the hearing on the council’s webcast. We will report the decision.