A café located outside Millwall FC’s stadium, The Den, has been allowed to sell alcohol every day of the week after councillors unanimously approved a new licence application.
The Millwall Cafe, in Bolina Road, in Lewisham had applied for a new premises licence with Lewisham Council so it could sell alcohol from 10am to 11pm, Monday to Sunday.
The plans received objections from Millwall FC, the Metropolitan Police and the licensing authority, who had concerns regarding the café’s close proximity to the stadium and the potential for anti-social behaviour to increase and crime and disorder to occur.
Objecting on behalf of the Met, PC Shaun Rodway said the outside area of the the café is already “extremely densely populated”, and sees supporters congregate on the footpath and roadway adjacent to the building.
PC Rodway said: “Although the large gathering of people on most days is manageable, it can cause issues when a large number of away coaches need to get into the away compound.
“On occasion this area can have inter-rivalry ‘banter’ when the coaches come across the stadium and into Bolina Road, generally sees some banging on windows and anti-social behaviour especially when exiting coaches to engage in disorder and/or violence.”
He added: “Police feel that this behaviour will increase if drinking is allowed 10am to 11pm on match days and would suggest that the sale of alcohol is stopped from 60 minutes before kick-off and for 60 minutes after the game has finished.”
Ali Hossin Moramazy, Head of Operations and Safety Officer at Millwall FC, said: “Additional alcohol-led congregation close to the stadium, including by away supporters, increases the potential for disorder and places further demand on police and club resources.
“Gatherings outside or around the premises would obstruct pedestrian flows on Bolina Road at the busiest points of the match day, undermining safe ingress and egress and complicating the response of emergency services.”
He added: “The club is also concerned that the trading name may lead members of the public to believe the premises is operated by or associated with Millwall Football Club, which it is not.”
During a meeting of Lewisham Council’s Licensing Sub-Committee on Tuesday (October 27), Nira Suresh, who was representing Millwall Cafe, said existing gatherings and football supporters should not automatically be treated as evidence that the proposed licence will create “additional disorder”.
He said: “The applicant is not asking the committee to discard the police concerns, we ask that each disputed condition be assessed against the actual risk, the premise of operating history, and the safeguards that have already been accepted.”
Stuart Parker, the Met’s dedicated football officer at Millwall FC, said: “Our objections are in and around the football matches and on the days of the game.
“I’ve got no objections to [the premises] during the week, selling a lovely bottle of wine to someone on a Monday to Thursday or anything on that side of things.”
He went on to say: “Unfortunately we do have an issue in football with crime and disorder, which we work very hard on [within] the Met Police. Millwall itself has got an issue with some aspects of that, but that is something we deal with on a regular occasion.”
After hearing from the the cafe’s representative and objectors, the meeting was briefly adjourned while members of the sub-committee deliberated in private.
The council’s Licensing Sub-Committee ultimately chose to grant to licence, subject to the agreed conditions and three additional match day conditions, with one modification.
The additional match day conditions are:
- On home match days, a minimum of one SIA-registered door supervisor shall be on duty from two hours before kick-off until the match has finished and supporters have dispersed from the area.
- On home match days, the café shall provide and place a minimum six-foot Heras fence around the café outdoor seating area to provide a safe, secure and controlled area. The fencing shall remain in place until after the match has finished and supporters have dispersed from the area.
- On home match days, no alcohol shall be sold or supplied during the 60 minutes before kick-off or during the 60 minutes after the match has ended.
- During the match, the designated premises supervisor shall conduct a risk assessment to consider whether alcohol sales should be suspended and shall refuse alcohol to any person known to have been removed from the match.
