Merkur Slots wins first battle to get gambling licence to open in Spalding
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A gambling firm went one step closer to opening in Spalding town centre by winning its bid for a licence.
Merkur Slots secured a bingo premises licence for 32-33 Hall Place after a council licensing panel meeting on Tuesday.
The firm’s bid to open in the former Dorothy Perkins store has proved controversial among residents - and its separate planning application was rejected by South Holland District Council in September.
Merkur is appealing this decision - and would need this permission as well as its licence before it can open.
On Tuesday, it was represented by Philip Kolvin QC - who made the case to councillors Jack Tyrrell, Paul Redgate and Anthony Casson on the panel.
He set out the case that Merkur is a large and experienced operator with more than 190 premises that has never been refused a licence, engages in staff training and that subjects itself to audits and mystery shopper visits.
Mr Kolvin said: “Nothing is left to chance and the outcome of this unblemished history is that my client’s responsibility and record speaks for itself.”
He stressed that none of the authorities - including police - had raised objectives and said that it would not serve alcohol or admit children at the premises.
Staff would walk the floor to enforce those policies - and to spot and address anyone who is vulnerable - with a programme allowing ‘self exclusion’ for those with problem gambling as well as bans. CCTV would cover the inside and outside of the premises, there would be a magnetic door locking system and the firm would participate in the Pubwatch scheme.
Merkur proposed conditions to set the hours to 8am to midnight Sunday to Thursday - and to 2am on Fridays and Saturdays - although councillors later changed this condition so that it would close at midnight every day.
There would be 41 gaming machines and 20 bingo tablets inside the venue - although Mr Kolvin suggested there would likely only be five or six people inside at any one time and promised that more than one staff member would be on duty after 8pm.
He added: “You are not going to find - and my client doesn’t find - gangs of people hanging around outside the premises and being disorderly. The town is not going to change character in that regard.”
The planning application was rejected because of the ‘significant impact on the vitality of Spalding town centre’ and the loss of retail space.
The panel was told that neither of these are licensing considerations and nor, by law, were any of the moral objections raised to having another gambling establishment in the town.
Legislation suggests there is an ‘aim to permit’ and a ‘presumption in favour’ of passing such plans - unless there is specific evidence that the Merkur premises would cause harm.
Mr Kolvin added: “In my experience, once my client opens, those fears prove to have been unevidenced and they do not lead to later difficulties.”
Coun Liz Sneath attended and outlined her opposition to the proposal, stating: “In ten years I have not received so many objections as I have done against this application. It’s thrown people into a tizzy, there’s no doubt.”
She said Spalding does not have a late night time economy and raised fears over low level criminal activity and important ‘moral objections’.
