A football club will be allowed to serve alcohol at weekends after its licensing application was granted.
North Somerset Council’s licensing sub committee approved Worle Football Club’s application for the sale and supply of alcohol at its meeting on Tuesday.
The application was made on August 12 and covers the football club and changing rooms at Worle Recreation Ground, in Station Road.
Consultations were carried out and objections received from two homeowners, which related to protection of children from harm and public nuisance.
Police licensing asked for additional conditions to be added and the applicant agreed, which include a challenge 25 age-related policy, CCTV to be fitted to cover the lounge area of the building and the licensed area between the front of the building and the security fence and to limit non-standard timings, which would be classed as extra hours, to 20 occasions in any calendar year.
The club will supply alcohol on Saturdays between 10am-7.30pm and on Sundays between 10am-6pm. The club wants to cover evening and bank holiday fixtures, cup finals, tournaments and fundraising events.
There is space for 60 people inside and 40 within an awning outside with plastic glasses.
The football club has been operating as a licensed premises under temporary event notices in 2015 and 2018 to cover the summer season. No complaints were made regarding any behaviour of people leaving the club after these events.
Club secretary Dave Brine said: “The football club was founded in 1899, it has been a part of village life in Worle for more than 120 years and is one of the oldest active football club’s in North Somerset and has been playing matches on Worle Recreation Ground for more than 60 years.
“Over the years the ground has been improved from having a cricket pitch which was too dangerous to use and a football pitch that was continually flooding, to having one of the best pitches in the league and the Recreation Ground used by villagers and regularly for organised football by youngsters through to veterans.
“With council budgets being cut over the years, volunteers have stepped in to act as unpaid groundsmen, with advice from the Institute of Groundsmen the club spends £2,000-3,000 annually maintaining the ground including fertilising, levelling, seeding and cutting the grass.
“It’s normal practice in the county leagues to socialise and provide refreshments after a match for opponents.”
The sub-committee agreed to grant the application subject to the conditions suggested by the police.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here