DAVID ANTHONY DONNELLY Applicant, YORK HOTEL AND OTHERS Objectors.

Provisional grant of a public house licence at 5 Lower Crescent, Belfast.

Inadequacy – Licensing Act (Northern Ireland) 1971 section 5(2)(c)(i) – Vicinity defined – section 5(2) – Suitability of the premises considered in the light of the proposed layout of the premises to enable a licensed business to be conducted thereon as well as the structural stability of the building and its foundations. The court’s general discretion to refuse to grant a licence (although the specific requirements of the statute have been met) considered to be severely limited.

Judge Pringle QC – Belfast Recorder’s Court – 17/1/1985.

[Affirmed on appeal when the above points were considered in detail, see DONNELLY -v- REGENCY HOTEL LTD and others. HC [1985] NI 144, [1985] 5 NIJB 51 (CARSWELL J)]