HHRA Update 30 July 2025

Osborne View

HHRA has received the following response from the Director of Hall & Woodhouse:

I understand the concern about licensing hours. As you say, the licensed hours have not changed from the previous licence (although late night refreshments which exclude alcohol have been extended by 30 mins). Having said that, we do not operate late night venues, and do not anticipate the evening trade being much different to the hours operated before the fire. I am happy for this email to be shared, and hope this helps to alleviate concerns. 

We are certainly not looking to extend any hours for alcohol consumption, nor run a late night venue.  It is possible that we open slightly earlier for trade than prior to the fire, as this is a trend we are seeing across the industry, but is not yet something our Operations  team has decided.

The response which a number of you may have received from Hall & Woodhouse’s solicitors says:

We should like to clarify that this application does not seek to extend from the existing licence either the opening hours of the premises, nor the hours during which alcohol will be sold.  There is a small extension to the hours during which Late Night Refreshments can be provided (extended from midnight to 00:30 on all days, save for Friday and Saturday when the extension is sought until 01:00).  Late Night Refreshment is any hot food or drink served between the hours of 11pm and 5am, so this small extension will not materially change the operation of the premises.

It is therefore our client’s position that the operation of the pub will remain the same as it was before the fire.  We hope that this clarification will ease any concerns that you have in relation to this application, but should any concerns remain, our client will be happy to explore these with you further. 

Notwithstanding those (qualified) reassurances, I think it is no bad thing that FBC Licensing Committee has seen the level of concern which many neighbours have expressed.  Given that the hours are so close to those which originally applied, I imagine they will be approved, but at least concerns have been registered in the hopefully unlikely event that any problems arise in future.

Music celebrations at local pubs

On a slightly related subject, we understand that this Saturday 2 August, the Cuckoo Pint promises music 11am to 11pm for the Cuckoo Fest and the Crofton pub has the CroftFest Music Festival from 2pm.

Sewage

We are grateful to Councillor Pal Hayre for a number of updates about the Southern Water work on Crofton Lane.  She has raised with Southern Water a number of complaints about speeding tankers mounting pavements and using routes that are unsuitable for such heavy vehicles.  She has also spoken to Hampshire CC Highways about who holds responsibility for any damage arising from this.  Pal invites us to keep in touch with her, ideally with photos: pal.hayre@hants.gov.uk.

She has also passed on the news that the work is going well, with most of the liner installed.  If everything goes according to plan, the tankers should be gone in a couple of weeks and then the work to repair the road will commence.

Overnight racing cars

A reminder, as we enter the height of the summer holidays, that if you become aware of cars misusing car parks and racing along roads, do report it on 101 or via hampshire.police.uk

Solent airport

With thanks to committee member Ken Mackenzie for keeping in touch with the manager at Solent Airport, he reports:

 Airfield Ground Lighting:  The lighting is installed and serviceable but has not yet received CAA clearance as the system, which requires instant feedback on the serviceability of ALL the lights in the complex, is not yet foolproof. This is an issue with a number of provincial airfield systems apparently.

Airport contract: RCA are not going to bid to renew their contract to operate Solent Airport next April and have no knowledge of any other organisation which might wish to bid.  The overall management, in the event of no successful bids, will revert to FBC.

Airfield operations: Activity, and therefore income, has been disappointedly low so far this year.

Hampshire Open Studios

This year’s celebration of the many talented artists in the county will run between 16 and 25 August and, as ever, there will be many studios open in the Hill Head area. We have been asked to include the following invitation

David Brims is giving his Valedictory Exhibition at 25 Knights Bank Road with Hampshire Open Studios.   This being the last showing of his work, and the need to help Ukraine, all pictures are half original price and ALL proceeds going to a Ukraine medical charity.   David had no intention of doing yet another exhibition, but the treatment of Zelenskyy in the White House was so appalling that David felt an obligation to help again.   Previous exhibitions have raised £6000 for Ukraine.