Is a Midnight Closing Time "Too Early"

A meeting of Epsom & Ewell Borough Council on 17th July voted to allow additional clubs and pubs in the town centre to stay open until 1am even on weeknights, despite efforts from Liberal Democrat councillors to reduce the midweek closing time to midnight.

A number of clubs in Epsom town centre already have licences to stay open until 2am under earlier policies. If there is well-documented evidence of any of these venues causing a problem, its licence can be reviewed. However the review process is lengthy and can result in an expensive Appeal process.

Town centre residents regularly express concern at existing noise levels in the small hours and have demanded action from the council. Despite this, the council's new Licensing Policy permits additional town centre premises to operate a 1am closing time 7 nights a week, even though it can take up to an hour after this for noisy crowd to disperse.

Liberal Democrat councillors were willing to accept the Licensing Committee's recommendation of 1am at weekends, but felt that midnight was more appropriate midweek, as nearby residents need to get up early for work the next morning.

Cllr Colin Taylor, who asked Council to adjust the recommended 1am limit to midnight on weeknights, said "The balance between the demands of the night-time economy and local residents' right to a good night's sleep has been disturbed. We are not suggesting existing clubs should be penalised if they are well run, but if the government wants us to build more and more town centre dwellings, then it must also provide laws to give town centre dwellers an acceptable quality of life. Not being able to sleep until 2am on weekdays is unacceptable.