from Leslie London – Dear Obs residents,
The owner of Springbok Pub, located on Lower Main Rd, opposite DAG between Trill and Norwich Roads, has applied for a License to run a beer garden at the back of the premises (where there is currently parking and a number of garage structures).
This is a potential development with many ramifications, not just for the nearby residents in terms of noise, disruption, and traffic, but also for the wider Obs community with respect to the question of crime and well-bring in Observatory.
Observatory already has a legal liquor outlet density five times higher than the City average (see an attached report done for OBSID in January 2017) and extending the current pub into a Beer Garden will likely increase drunken behaviour as well as potentially attracting other undesirable activities to the already congested Lower Main Rd, where the local community has only just succeeded in having a number of establishments linked to the drugs trade closed down.
Although the owner has met with local residents and promised some changes (soundproofing indoors), it seems that he is intent on extending activities into the outdoor setting behind the premises for which there is no soundproofing, and promises a bouncer service as the solution to drunken behavior – a solution rather unreliable in our experience of how bars are managed in Observatory thus far.
Moreover, the Provincial Premier’s Office has made alcohol harm-reduction a provincial priority and their White Paper (attached) includes support for strategies to limit the density of alcohol outlets.
If you feel this is something you want to object to, and you wish to lodge an objection to the proposed license, you have till June 20th to do so.
In the links on the newsletter article is a pro forma outline of what you might put into your objection. I have also included links to the Western Cape Alcohol Harms Reduction White Paper and the report for OBSID in January 2017 on Alcohol Outlet Density and Crime in Observatory – for background information in case you wish to draw on any of those documents.
The address to which you need to send any objections is included in the attached proforma.
Thanks
Leslie London
Download links to documents relating to liquor license objection
Objection letter to Springboks Pub
OBSID Alcohol density report
Western Cape Alcohol Harm Reduction Policy