• The public house has been renamed The Brickyard by the owner, who wants to run it as a ‘sophisticated tapas and wine bar’.
• The owner’s appeal against the SADC Enforcement Notice to remove the unauthorised side and rear extensions is set to be heard on 2 December. APRA has sent a submission supporting the enforcement.
• The SADC planning committee overturned their own officers’ recommendation not to allow full paving of the front and rear gardens, despite objections – the latter has now been completed to within less than 1 metre of the boundary with neighbouring properties.

Notwithstanding the unsettled appeal, an application to vary the existing licence to cover the new layout (to midnight, plus 1 hour Friday & Saturday) was heard on 18 September and refused following strong objections by APRA and others on the grounds that it would result in unacceptable increase in noise disturbance. The owner has now re-applied with some conditions to limit noise, e.g., automatic door closers into the garden but noise from the paved garden itself will only be controlled by the ‘best endeavours’ of the management staff. Given recent experience of wine bars we think these conditions are inadequate and will again object. The SADC consultation period ends on 28 October.