Northallerton residents have urged councillors to refuse to grant a premises licence to a new cinema being built on the site of a former prison amid concerns it could fuel anti-social behaviour.
While people in the Crosby Road area of Northallerton said they had been stunned to learn Everyman Cinema’s application for a premises licence at the £17m Treadmills development included a proposal to offer alcohol until 3am every day, the firm has indicated it would pull the plug on the scheme without an alcohol licence.
In letters of objection to Hambleton District Council, residents questioned whether it was intended to create a nightclub at the four-screen venue, as the firm was seeking its licence to cover “the performance of live music, the playing of recorded music, the performance of dance and any entertainment of a similar description between the hours of 9am and 3am every day”.
Ahead of a licensing hearing on Thursday, resident Gordon Haw wrote: “Joe Public were led to believe this was to be a cinema, which alone will have devastating consequences for residents already living and long established within the area.
“Northallerton town is already saturated with licensed premises, on quick calculation around the town there are already in excess of 22 causing nuisance, damage, upset noise and distrurbance to local residents, some nights continuing to 5am.”
Another objector, Hazel Chapman, added: “This will result in excessive noise pollution, extra rubbish pollution and increase anti-social behaviour, in the area of Crosby Road.”
Fellow resident Ronald Pratt added while Everyman had stated cinema-goers would be asked to respect local residents as they left, people under the influence of alcohol would need to return to cars in the Crosby Road car park, resulting in “loud talking, slamming of car doors, revving engines, extra litter and the depositing of urine and faeces since there is no provision of outside toilets”.
Everyman, which operates 28 cinemas across the country, said it wanted to offer a “unique cinema experience with food and drinks served in the bar area and in the auditoriums where customers can watch films in the comfort of sofa seating, large comfy seats with tables for food and drink”.
A spokesman for the firm said the levels of service and comfort the venue featuring auditoriums with 104, 66 and two with 53 seats offered would be “over and above a general cinema offering” and that it would respond to the residents’ concerns.
He added: “Everyman Cinema has noted the representations that have been made and is happy to amend the application so that the terminal hour for licensable activities will be midnight and not 3am, as applied for.”
A number of conditions have been proposed with the application, including that alcohol will only be sold to customers who are attending the premises for an event, show, production or screening.
The firm’s spokesman said: “Alcohol is an important product for Everyman Cinema, but very ancillary to the main use of the premises as a cinema. Whilst Everyman would not open a cinema without an alcohol licence, alcohol sales at the premises represent a very small proportion of total sales, generally in the region of five per cent.”.
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