No decision yet on the Westerham Club licence review listed for 21 October. A neighbour logged 43 complaints; the club says a new committee is fixing it.

Updated 22 October 2026

The review was listed for a licensing sub-committee hearing at 10.30am on Wednesday 21 October. When we reread the council's meeting page on 22 October it carried no decision notice or minutes yet. We will add the outcome here when the council publishes it. Our report of the case as it went to the hearing follows.

The Westerham Club on Fullers Hill faced a review of its club premises certificate this week. A neighbour asked for the review, citing months of noise and drinking outside homes in Duncan’s Yard. A council licensing sub-committee was listed to hear the case at 10.30am on Wednesday 21 October. (Sevenoaks District Council, Licensing Hearing, 21 October 2026)

The club’s own reply was published with the papers. It apologises, and says a new committee is putting things right.

What the neighbour says

The review was applied for on 1 September by a resident living next to the club. It rests on one licensing objective, the prevention of public nuisance. (Committee report)

The resident’s statement says they do not want the club closed, and calls it “a long-established community facility”. They ask the council to make sure the club keeps to the conditions already on its certificate. (Representation, Appendix 1)

Their incident log runs from April to August 2026. The complaints include:

  • customers drinking, shouting and sitting on walls and doorsteps outside neighbouring homes
  • football in Duncan’s Yard, and a damaged flower bed
  • loud recorded music on 27 June, with the club’s doors and windows left open
  • an argument outside homes at 2.50am on 12 April
  • a notice asking customers to leave quietly that went up for only one day

(Incident log, Appendix 1B)

Four neighbours made representations. Three arrived after the consultation closed on 29 September. The council accepted them because its public portal had shown the wrong closing date, 1 October.

What the club says

The club’s letter to the committee says it is “disappointed” with how earlier complaints were handled, and blames poor liaison under previous management. A new committee was elected at an emergency general meeting on 14 August. (Club response, Appendix 4A)

It says 39 of the 43 complaint entries fell during this summer’s heatwave, when doors and windows were open. It also says 21 came during the World Cup. It calls both “not an excuse”.

The club lists what it has done or plans to do:

  • notices telling members and guests not to sit on neighbours’ property, to keep doors closed and to leave quietly
  • bar staff and committee told to move people on after hours
  • a signing-in book again, with two guests per member at most
  • CCTV repaired in the week of 7 September, after being out of action for some time
  • sound checks at music events, and asking for special event licences when bands bring a following
  • beer and waste collections moved to no earlier than 8am
  • an offer for a residents’ representative to sit in on committee meetings

The club says it has been going for over 100 years and counts Winston Churchill among past members. It warns that it “will NOT survive without a license and some events to raise funds”.

What the council can do

None of the council’s responsible authorities objected. Environmental Protection, the fire service, Trading Standards and others all said they had no comment.

The sub-committee can:

  • change the conditions on the certificate
  • remove a licensable activity
  • suspend the certificate for up to three months
  • withdraw it

Any decision can be appealed to the magistrates’ court within 21 days, and does not take effect until then.

What it means for residents

The hearing was listed in public in the Council Chamber on Argyle Road. All the papers are on the council’s meeting page. We will report the decision when it is published.

A second pub review, of the Rising Sun at Twitton, follows on 27 October. New licence applications across the district are in our weekly planning and licensing roundups.

Sources

Image: Fullers Hill, Westerham, photo by Roger Cornfoot, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph and Wikimedia Commons.