‘Mega bar’ owner apologises as licence granted

Stirchley Tap House on Mary Vale Road had an application to sell alcohol granted by the licensing committee of Birmingham City Council, despite several objections from local residents.

Concerns from residents included a claim on the bar’s website that it would be opening a ‘mega bar’ with capacity for ‘500 people’, something which many said was not in-keeping with a local residential area, as well as the potential impact it could have on a nearby sheltered accommodation facility.

In reality the bar will have capacity for 130 people, not 500, and will only be operating from Thursday to Sunday, with a range of craft beers and gins on offer and a rotating choice of street food vendors throughout the year.

The bar had initially sought to operate from midday to midnight every day, but has since scaled back its operating times after consulting with local residents, and will now serve drinks no later than 11pm every day.

Stirchley Tap House’s application was granted by the planning committee, who concluded that the objections were not material enough reasons to deny it.

And, speaking at the hearing, a spokesperson for Stirchley Tap House apologised for the way in which it first presented itself to residents, insisting that it will have a good relationship with the local community going forward.

“I think that we got it wrong in the beginning as to how we advertised this, as you can hear today that’s how all these rumours then got spun off into a ‘huge capacity venue’,” he said.

“My greatest mistake was not communicating with the community. Previously I have set up other locations that were very successful, but I didn’t realise being in a residential area, that you really have got to step down a little bit and communicate directly with the people around. There is another location right beside where we are which runs a very similar venue and doesn’t have any issues in that particular area.

“We’ve looked at the hours to make sure it’s fair and in line with all the other premises in the area and we’ve gone to the lowest common denominator. Having the licence is one thing, but making sure you step up to the rules and regulations with that licence is another.

“A lot of these potential issues I understand and we’ve listened to a lot of the residents, and my ethos is that I’m very transparent and we run a professional organisation, and this will be run at the same standard. If there’s any issues going forward, I’ll address those with the residents’ committee.

“Hopefully you’ve seen today that we are totally flexible in looking at how to fit in with the area. We’ve given ourselves the wrong banner initially, ‘Mega Bar’ ‘500-person capacity’ and that all got blown out of proportion – that’s not who we are. But we’ve had very limited time to tell you who we actually are.

“We’re totally flexible in terms of the hours, we will listen to any of the residents concerns and make sure we meet somewhere in the middle and everybody is happy.

“But we haven’t gone into this particular area blind. We’ve done our research, we’ve looked at the local resources, we’ve looked at the local community and local establishments to make sure we do fit in here.

“And we do, absolutely, 100 per cent.”