Fat Sam’s nightclub in Dundee city centre is seeking permission to stay open and sell alcohol until 4.30am three days a week.
Its application for a two-hour extension to its current licence on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays will be considered by the city’s licensing board on Thursday.
Tayside Police have raised concerns about the potential for increased crime and disorder and the extra pressure the change might put on officers.
But Fat Sam’s general manager Colin Rattray reckons the opposite will be the case. He said, “My hope is that by staying open later and providing a relaxed atmosphere where food is available, we will reduce instances of binge drinking, which will protect and improve public health.
“People will leave the premises less intoxicated, which will help prevent public nuisance and at the same time reduce crime and disorder as well as increase public safety.”
The nightclub wants to turn a basement storeroom into a kitchen, connected by a dumb waiter to a ground-floor galley from where food would be served.
A statement accompanying its application for the licence extension explains that only the ground floor of the club is open on Wednesdays and Fridays, and there would be a staged closure on Saturdays so that by 3.30am only the diner/VIP area on the ground floor would still be open.
The nightclub averages 1300 visitors on Saturdays, but the maximum capacity of the diner/VIP area is only 300. The club claims this would mean a “gradual trickle down” in numbers, easing pressure on police and taxis.
Only tea, coffee and soft drinks would be ordered directly from the bar, with alcohol restricted to table service to ensure its sale was to accompany food.
The nightclub’s statement says, “These would not be an additional 300 people in the city centre. Rather it would be the same people who would be remaining within the premises where they had commenced their late-night entertainment rather than having migrated elsewhere during the course of the evening.”
Chief Inspector David Barclay has also written to the licensing board expressing the force’s concerns.
He said, “This extension of hours will undoubtedly result in police resources having to be retained on duty far later than was originally operationally planned for, with the possibility that they may have to be supplemented by officers deployed for other areas of the division.
“Later opening hours for a nightclub means the later availability of alcohol, with the potential for an increase in crime and disorder due to this consumption. This, in turn, will mean that there will be more incidents which police officers will need to attend beyond 4.30am.
“Nightclub revellers undoubtedly make noise nuisance from time to time on returning home. This will also extend the period which communities will have to tolerate disruption to their lives.”
The licensing board will also be asked to consider an application from the Fort Hotel in Broughty Ferry to allow alcohol to be sold up to 2am on Fridays and Saturdays, an hour later than at present.
Several neighbours have lodged objections, largely based on concerns about noise, littering and the potential for anti-social behaviour.