Round 2: restaurant group continues fight for licenses

Thursday 25 February 2016

An application for licenses for a gastro-ping pong bar and a new venue at the Elizabeth Terminal received nearly unanimous support again at a Parish assembly last night.

The Calvani Group resubmitted their applications for entertainment licenses for JB’s, and an alcohol licence for The Terminal before the St Helier Parish Assembly last night, two months after the licensing bench of Jurats knocked them back.

Marcus Calvani, owner of the Calvani Group, said: “We received overwhelming support from the people of St Helier last night for our applications. We had the backing of the Constable of St Helier, the Director of Ports of Jersey, the head of Jersey Hospitality, and the Licensing Unit, plus support from The Liberation Group and new letters of recommendation from Economic Development.

“The only questions we had were the same ones from the Seymour Group about the type of entertainment we would be offering at JB’s, which we had answered before. We didn’t have any questions about the license for serving drinks to travellers at The Terminal.”

The Calvani Group have invested over £300,000 in JB’s, a ping pong gastro bar, on Wharf Street, and The Terminal, a café at Elizabeth Harbour ferry terminal. In December the Licensing Assembly turned down the Group’s application for Category 1 (alcohol), Category 3 (late night dining), and Category 7 (entertainment) licenses for JB’s and a Category 1 license for The Terminal.

Mr Calvani said: “The idea for JB’s is that it can be a place for people to play table tennis later in the evening, and have a bite to eat, and a drink standing up. It’s an alternative to night clubs. With five full-sized table tennis tables, 60% of the square footage of the venue is dedicated to table tennis so it’s not like a dart board in the corner of a bar – it’s part of the concept. This is proving the challenge for Licensing.

“The alcohol licence for The Terminal is so that travellers can have an alcoholic drink while they’re waiting for their ferry.”

The applications will go back to the Licensing Assembly on 17 March.

Mr Calvani said: “The people have spoken and I hope that this time the Jurats listen. The licensing bench is supposed to act on behalf of people on the island so should take what people want into consideration. This is why I was so disappointed last time when we had so much support and the bench still rejected the applications.

“I hope that this won’t be the case this time and I’m optimistic that there will be a better outcome.”