Date set for hearing on plans to open nightclub in Scarborough Town Centre

Frazer Jones, of Decades Bar Ltd, applied to Scarborough Council earlier this year for a premises licence to run the club out of 9 Aberdeen Walk, which was previously home to the Mansion nightclub.

North Yorkshire Police has said it is not happy with the plans and the council will be called on to make a decision on whether the club will be allowed to open.

The authority had planned to hold a hearing into the matter last month but technical issues over how to run the meeting remotely scuppered the idea.

The council now plans to hold the licensing sub-committee meeting to decide the application on Wednesday May 20.

Mr Jones, who operates his Decades brand out of a club in Tamworth told the Local Democracy Reporting Service earlier this year that he had been looking for a seaside town to expand into and was put onto Scarborough by a friend from the area.

Under the plans, Decades Nightclub would be open until 4am Monday to Wednesday and then half an hour later on Thursday to Sundays.

Music will be played until 4am Monday to Wednesday and then until 4.30am at the rest of the week, with alcohol served at the same times, though Mr Jones said the club would be looking to open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the outset.

If granted permission, it would bring a nightclub back into Scarborough town centre, though Mr Jones himself admitted that he anticipated the police not being on board with his idea as the building is located in the town’s Cumulative Impact Zone, which makes it harder for new licences premises to open.

In a report prepared for the councillors it states that the police had a number of concerns.

It states: “[There are] concerns regarding the late-night trading hours as customers may leave the venue at 5.45am [and] issues surrounding the Cumulative Impact Zone (CIP) in relation to the number and density of licensed premises in this location.”

The report adds that the police also have concerns “regarding management’s ability to demonstrate an understanding of the problems that exist and the measures they will employ to mitigate any impact.”

The committee will have to decide whether to grant, refuse or to grant with different hours or conditions Mr Jones’ application.

The property was used as a club originally when Mansion opened its doors in 1966 as Scene One, making it one of the first modern discotheques in the UK.

Two years later Scene Two opened in the floor above and hosted gigs from acts including Status Quo, the Drifters, Mungo Jerry, the Troggs and Acker Bilk.

Mansion, along with Boleyns and Vivaz, all closed their doors in the 2000s as Scarborough’s nightclub scene was reduced to almost nothing, with just Bacchus in Ramshill still going strong.

The hearing, which will start at 10am, will be broadcast on the council’s YouTube page at www.youtube.com/ScarboroughCouncilA message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you