A 130-YEAR-OLD golf club which wants to open its doors to the public and serve alcohol later then currently has rejected a suggestion it would turn into a pub.
Pennard Golf Club, Gower, serves alcohol to members and their guests under a licensing certificate.
Now run as a private limited company it’s looking to expand commercially to help meet rising costs, a Swansea Council licensing sub-committee meeting heard.
Its application for a premises licence would, if approved, allow the public to drink there until 11.30pm seven days a week – later than currently – with the venue closing at midnight.
Four people objected in writing to the application, claiming non-members have been able to drink there for years and that individuals have sometimes been seen returning to their cars in an intoxicated state.
It was also claimed events at the club could be noisy and that some golfers “who appear to have been drinking gather at the first tee and compete to hit golf balls over distance”. The letter of objection says this happens parallel to the main road into the village and presents a risk to passing vehicles.
Another objector says that “we have often seen people who appear to have been drinking getting into cars late at night and driving off, sometimes at speed and occasionally seeming to race each other’.
A third said: “When the golf club hosts a weekend event, we are treated to increased noise and disturbance… slamming doors, shouting greetings, laughing loudly and hooting horns.”
A fourth wrote: “The local community are also aware of reports of disruptive and lewd, drunken behaviour in the club and we ourselves have heard raucous behaviour on numerous occasions.”
Addressing the sub-committee objector Noel Clark said the club had served alcohol to the public for as long as he’d lived there. “It’s the events that concern us, the playing of music, the potential for disruption late at night,” he said.
Another objector, Andy Rees, said noise from the club, which has a balcony, carried across open land to his house 400m away and that he could sometimes hear conversations as well as “raucous behaviour”.
A premises licence would, he said, “effectively turn the facility into a pub for the general public”. Dr Rees added: “This is a quiet rural area, not Wind Street (in Swansea).”
Timothy Jones, a semi-retired solicitor and a club vice-president, said the four objectors were a fraction of the circa 3,000 local population.
“Pennard Golf Club has experienced difficulties with certain residents over a period of time unfortunately despite endeavouring to work with them,” he said.
Mr Jones said the club did not seek to become a club or entertainment venue. “That is simply incorrect, misconceived and it’s not the case,” he said.
Part of the reason for the application, he said, was to avoid having to apply for temporary event notices to hold events.
Mr Jones said the club would curtail bottling times to no later than 6pm and not before 9am to help reassure residents. “The club does conduct itself in a responsible manner,” he said.
Mr Jones, who was speaking on the club’s behalf in his capacity as a member, said it was founded in 1896 and had a buoyant youth section, a safeguarding officer and a marshal who went around on a buggy to help keep people walking on paths at the course out of harm’s way.
He added that all bar staff had undergone training to challenge anyone wanting to buy alcohol who looked under 25, that incidents and accidents were logged, that guests had to sign in, and that CCTV covered the balcony area and clubhouse perimeter as well as inside.
Club and course manager Ceri Llewellyn said he’d be happy to provide residents with staff contact details in case of any issues in the evenings.
The club’s current certificate allows alcohol to be served until 11pm Monday to Saturday and 10.30pm on Sunday. It has a function room and restaurant with capacity for around 100 people. Mr Jones said the club operated on a seasonal basis and closed earlier in the winter and spring.
South Wales Police did not put forward any representations. The council’s legal officer pointed out that anyone who drove after consuming more than the prescribed drink drive limit was committing a criminal offence.
Councillors on the sub-committee retired to consider what they’d heard and take legal advice and will issue a decision within five working days.
