Westminster licensee wins rare court victory

A Westminster licensee is celebrating a rare court victory over the city council - and calling on others to follow his lead.

David Haseldine withdrew an appeal to magistrates over a variation - after the council refused him a licensing hearing - but Westminster came after him asking for around £800 in costs - for preparing for the case.

Haseldine, who runs Bradley's Spanish Bar on the cusp of one of Westminster's infamous 'stress zones', argued he should pay because he was refused a hearing in the first place.

Westminster allowed his application to go past the two-month deadline therefore it was automatically deemed refused.

Haseldine told the MA: "I was going to pay the costs like many other licensees because if I had been unsuccessful ,in court the costs would have risen to almost £1,500.

"Thankfully the magistrates agreed with us that we should have been given a fair hearing in the first place.

"My message to other licensees is don't pay up - take it to a hearing."

Morning Adveriser legal expert Peter Coulson said there are numerous licensees in a similar position to Haseldine because Westminster chose to go down the 'deemed refusal' route.

He said: "Westminster is facing up to 400 appeals, many of them as a result of 'deemed refusals' - which were variations that they didn't get round to.

"The only recourse for someone who did not get heard is to go to the bench, and it would appear that the Westminster magistrates are saying in this instance "it isn't the applicant's fault" That is probably the right decision.

Peter Large, Westminster's deputy director of legal services said: "We are disappointed that we were not awarded costs on this particular occasion.

He added: "We would urge all licensees who have an outstanding appeal which they wish to discuss with us to do so as soon as possible - it will save them money, and allow the cases which do need to be argued in court to get there quicker."