Plans for late-night dining venue rejected despite unanimous support

Wednesday 23 December 2015

The licencing board of Jurats has overturned a bid to develop JB’s, a ping pong gastro-bar on Wharf Street, into an alternative to St Helier nightclubs - despite the backing of the police, the fire service, the Parish, the hospitality sector and Visit Jersey.

Marcus Calvani, an owner of the Calvani Group, slammed Jersey’s ‘outdated’ licencing laws for rejecting the application after his company invested nearly £300,000, and spent four months preparing the project.

He said: “It’s a very disappointing situation. The licencing laws date back to 1974 and haven’t been updated since. We’re dealing with out of date laws and the world has moved on. The concepts of what people are trying to do in hospitality now don’t fit. “This happens all the time. There has been work to bring in new laws but nothing yet. I've been involved in discussion on the new law for many years now. We had a number of important applications in this week which were rejected by the licensing assembly despite overwhelming support from the parishioners of St. Helier and all the relevant bodies.

“JB’s had approval from the Fire Department, and from Public Health, we had support from the Police licensing unit, and full support from the Parish of St Helier. Simon Crowcroft the constable praised our application, saying it was one of best he had seen, and we even got a round of applause at the Parish Assembly.

“We had letters of recommendation from the Economic Development Minister, the President of Jersey Hospitality Association, the Group CEO of The Ports of Jersey and from the new Visit Jersey CEO.”

Despite the levels of support, the Licencing Assembly rejected the Calvani Group’s application for category three (restaurant) and category seven (entertainment) licenses for JB’s because of the potential effects of noise on Wharf Street.

At the same time, the Assembly granted similar licences to The Liberation Group for their new venue at The Square, which will include a pub serving food past 11pm and live jazz music entertainment.

Marcus added: “It’s hard to see how our plans could have increased noise levels in Wharf Street. We were proposing to take our capacity down from 400 to 250 to offer a better customer experience, and with a later food licence we would have had people leaving at staggered times, rather than a mass exodus.

“This was about offering a choice to the public, an alternative to clubbing, a higher end establishment for eating, drinking and playing, while still being able to talk with your friends. It's a pretty standard concept off island but sadly still not possible here.

“We had discussed with the police licensing unit our idea of group funding with fellow licence holders a new police camera for the street and have been working hard to improve Wharf Street at night.”

The Licensing Assembly also rejected the Calvani Group’s application for an alcohol licence for The Kiosk at Elizabeth Terminal, but approved all three licences for their development of The Lido at Havre du Pas.