A Cornwall Council meeting has heard that men and women, said to be customers of a pop-up restaurant, have been seen urinating on a beach and neighbouring cliff path in front of families.
Residents of Pentireglaze Haven, nicknamed Baby Bay, near Polzeath, and a representative from St Minver Highlands Parish Council all spoke against a premises licence application. The licence would allow the Baby Bay Beach Club to serve alcohol to guests and run a number of evening dining events.
Concerns were raised that diners would have to walk up an unlit cliff path to use public toilets, which were not guaranteed to be open at all times. Opponents said the licence could make antisocial behaviour worse in an area already known for rowdiness among "well-funded" youngsters.
Will Hermann, director of Porthilly Spirit Distillery Ltd, which runs Baby Bay Beach Club, said he recognised the concerns about public urination, noise, access, public safety and the effect of alcohol on a family beach. He agreed these were legitimate matters for a licensing sub-committee to consider.
However, he asked the committee to look at the actual application before it, "because a number of the representations describe something materially different from what we are seeking to licence".
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Mr Hermann said Baby Bay Beach Club was a small family-orientated barbecue restaurant on the sand, serving simple but refined food with a strong emphasis on local produce. "It is a restaurant – it is not an 11pm unrestricted beach bar that would be operating throughout the summer." He said alcohol sales would end at 5.30pm.
The application also asked for a maximum of ten evening long table dinners for the calendar year, with no more than one in any week. Mr Hermann expected the business would actually hold around five or six per year. Alcohol would be supplied by table service, and the restaurant was not seeking sales off the premises or at a bar where people could buy drinks and wander onto the beach.
He said that by seeking a premises licence, the restaurant would gain "a much clearer framework" for controlling alcohol consumption than by allowing diners to bring their own.
"The public toilets are not 'seven to nine minutes away at best' as described in some of the representations," added Mr Hermann. He shared a video taken by a member of his staff walking from the restaurant site to the public toilets via a cliff path, which took two minutes and seven seconds.
He stressed that no statutory responsible authority, such as the police, had made a representation against the application.
Mr Hermann admitted that the business had received a police warning for trading without a licence during a temporary event. He said this was due to an administrative error, which would not be repeated.
Asked if he thought there was a danger for people walking up the unlit cliff path to the public toilets at night, Mr Hermann said that in the two years the Baby Bay Beach Club had been operating there hadn't been any issues. "It's not that dark and there isn't a cliff at the side of it," he said.
The meeting then heard from Guy Shaw-Stewart, whose house sits directly alongside the area used by the Baby Bay Beach Club. He said: "This is a residential area. I live there. My family are living and breathing every aspect of the beach club."
Mr Shaw-Stewart said there had been incidents of loud noise and music late at night, and he had witnessed people urinating. "There have been many comments about urinating customers of the beach club – this is very uncomfortable for my family to witness. What worries me most is that this happens in broad daylight – which I've witnessed – in front of children on the beach."
He added: "The operation of the beach club has ruined Baby Bay. They've ruined the enjoyment of my house and garden and, on top of that, they've illegally sold alcohol, which is a serious offence and they only received a written warning."
Cllr Victoria Darnell, representing St Minver Highlands Parish Council, spoke next at the council meeting on Wednesday (September 9). She began by saying that no-one on her council thinks "anything negative" about the quality of the food or the service that Porthilly Spirit provides at the restaurant. "We are focused on the consequence of them doing so. Our objections are based on local residents' complaints and feedback from Porthilly Spirit's summer trading on Baby Bay.
"This is a tidal beach without any infrastructure normally associated with a licensed premises, the most important being on-site toilets."
She said the council had received many complaints this year about people urinating at Baby Bay beach. "A councillor walking out of Baby Bay on a Sunday lunchtime in June passed a man urinating on the cliff path" who, she added, was watched going back to his seat at the Baby Bay Beach Club.
"This is not what anybody expects on a Sunday lunchtime going down to the beach. We are concerned about people urinating and doing it in front of children."
Beach Club Customers Seen Urinating in Front of Children