BBC Club at New Broadcasting House given go-ahead after mistaken application for alcohol licence
By Adrian Zorzut, Local Democracy Reporter
The BBC has been given the go-ahead to run a club for employees in New Broadcasting House after mistakenly applying for a 24-hour alcohol licence.
Employees and their guests will be able to order drinks until 11.30pm and listen to live music until midnight most nights under the revised application approved by Westminster City councillors on Wednesday.
The council’s licensing committee heard how the venue, previously located in Wogan House, will sit above the BBC’s newsroom in New Broadcasting House and won’t be accessible to the public.
Lawyers representing BBC Club Sports and Leisure Ltd – one of two BBC divisions operating at the Portland Place site – said an application for a 24-hour licence had mistakenly been filed by an employee.
According to a council report, the wrong type of application had also been submitted.
Objectors at Wednesday’s meeting welcomed the new application but said they were still concerned about the level of noise the venue might create.
The revised application also states no sale or consumption of alcohol will take place outside the venue. The new licence will take effect as soon as a previous licence for Wogan House is surrendered.
A Westminster City Council report shows BBC Club Sports and Leisure applied for a new premises licence to give local authorities ‘clarity’ over who would be managing the employee-dedicated social club. BBC Club Sports and Leisure operates under different management to the BBC.
The BBC has had a licence in place for New Broadcasting House since 2005 which will now become a de facto shadow licence. BBC Club was founded in 1924 as a private members club but is now an employee membership club consisting of an event space, a gym, food and drink services which is open to employees and their partners, according to its website.
Everyone at the South London Press thanks you for your continued support.
Former Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has encouraged everyone in the country who can afford to do so to buy a newspaper, and told the Downing Street press briefing:
“A FREE COUNTRY NEEDS A FREE PRESS, AND THE NEWSPAPERS OF OUR COUNTRY ARE UNDER SIGNIFICANT FINANCIAL PRESSURE”
If you can afford to do so, we would be so grateful if you can make a donation which will allow us to continue to bring stories to you, both in print and online. Or please make cheques payable to “MSI Media Limited” and send by post to South London Press, Unit 112, 160 Bromley Road, Catford, London SE6 2NZ
