Chichester trampoline park defends plan to sell alcohol

Flip Out opened in Glenmore Business Park off the A27 back in 2017. The company wants permission to sell alcohol at its café and open later so it can host events for private groups and has submitted a premises licence application to Chichester District Council. But the council’s health protection team has raised ‘grave’ concerns saying ‘trampolining is not an activity which is compatible with the consumption of alcohol’. They argued that any reduction in supervision through intoxication would increase the risk to children. They also felt the layout of the site would make it easy for customers to move undetected from the café to trampoline area, with information referring only to controls on people who purchase alcohol and not to those who consume alcohol. In response the applicant’s representatives said given the layout of the premises and small licensable area ‘it is highly unlikely that such a scenario would take place without the knowledge of staff’. They added: “Furthermore, we have offered a comprehensive staff training condition that would include making sure staff are aware of the risks of proxy sales and what they should do if they suspect alcoholic beverages are being purchased for other people.” Admission to the trampoline area is controlled by staff who will be trained to look out for signs of intoxication. If they have any suspicion that a member of the public would be unsafe to admit to the trampoline area they will not do so. Staff would address the situation if any member of public was behaving in a dangerous manner and if necessary that individual would be asked to leave. It would ‘not be in our client’s interest to turn a blind eye to any dangerous behaviour’ they said, adding: “We have endeavoured to put together an application that would only allow the sale of alcohol in a safe environment and would not allow members of the public access to the trampolining area after consumption of any alcoholic drink.” Flip Out’s application is set to be discussed by the council’s alcohol and entertainment licensing sub-committee next Thursday (May 14). A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton: In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news, I am asking you to please purchase a copy of our newspapers. With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspapers. Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis. Stay safe, and best wishes.