An opportunity for a business can be a threat to neighbours. A guest house in a quiet, leafy residential suburb applied for a premises licence to sell alcohol. Many neighbours were very worried about the use of the garden, potential noise and effect on the values of their properties. They didn’t know how to oppose the application and what they could and couldn’t ask or say. So they clubbed together and asked Paul Ashwell to visit and represent them at the Licensing Committee. He explained the risk of disturbance from the exemptions to the Live Music Act. As a result the Committee put restrictions on the licence to deal with the residents’ reasonable concerns. Paul is recommended in the 2019 editions of the leading legal directories Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners.
