Update: DA D/2008/1919 for the ground floor below the former DCM/UN premises at 31-33 Oxford Street - REFUSED

The application was determined under delegation of Council and was refused consent on 16th December 2008.

You can read the reasons given for refusal here, and the planner's assessment report here. 

The application proposed to change the ground floor retail space, currently Oxford Variety, to a licensed lounge bar for 85 people – as part of a broader redevelopment project also involving the upstairs nightclub.

Proposed hours of operation were 11.00 am to 3.00 am Sundays to Thursdays, and 11.00 am to 5.00 am Fridays, Saturdays and any night preceding a public holiday.

The front of the site was to consist of a bar area with a capacity of 65 people, and a separate smokers’ lounge with a capacity of 20 people.

It was also proposed that the bar would ultimately be linked to the nightclub on Level 1 above, with the construction of a new internal staircase linking the two premises.

NOTE: The earlier application (D/2008/1590) to increase the operating hours of the nightclub was refused by Council on 22nd October 2008.