A cocktail bar and restaurant in Belfast City Centre has withdrawn a licence application for Monday student nights until 3am.
Revolución de Cuba in Arthur Street had applied for the variation of its seven-day annual entertainments licence.
But at the January meeting of Belfast City Council’s Licensing Committee (January 22), the application was withdrawn.
Details in the licensing report didn’t reveal the reason for the withdrawal, if it is permanent or if the bar intended another similar application in the future.
Revolución de Cuba is currently licensed to provide indoor entertainment on the ground floor for 560 persons, and the balcony for 170 persons.
The hours under the terms of the current indoor entertainment licence are Monday to Thursday, 11.30am to 1am the following morning, Friday and Saturday 11.30am to 3am the following morning, and Sunday 12.30pm to midnight.
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The withdrawn variation application related to a proposed extension to the hours on a Monday from 11.30am to 3am the following morning.
The council licensing report states: “The applicant has stated that the extension of hours to 3am is to respond to customer demand by launching a new student night.”
The report added: “No noise complaints have been received by the service in the past 12 months in relation to the venue.”
A public notice of the application was placed in the press and no written representation was lodged as a result of the advertisement. The PSNI had no objection to the application, and the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service had thus far given no response to the council.
Revolución de Cuba describes itself as an “authentic Cuban cocktail bar and restaurant within a stunning Art Nouveau building in the city centre.”
The building at 25-39 Arthur Street Belfast BT1 is a two-storey classical building constructed in 1894 as the headquarters for Dunville & Co, a prominent whiskey distillery in Belfast.
The building was designed by Vincent Craig (1869-1925), who was the younger brother of James Craig, the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.
In 1938, the distillery offices were repurposed as the headquarters of the Belfast Savings Bank, and it remained a bank until the 1980s.
After years of vacancy, the building was converted in 2005 into the French-themed bar and nightclub Café Vaudeville, and more recently, the Revolution Bars Group opened Revolución de Cuba.
News Catch Up – Thursday 23 January