St Mary's church in Walthamstow has applied for a permanent licence to serve alcohol, saying it would give the church "greater flexibility" to hold more community-focused events.
How it works now
At the moment, venues in Waltham Forest can apply for up to 15 Temporary Event Notices (TENs) a year, each of which allows them to sell alcohol at an event. St Mary's says it has hit that limit in recent years and wants the flexibility to go beyond it "if need be".
If granted, the licence would let St Mary's serve alcohol at events in the church from midday until 10.30pm. The church says a midday start would make room for "low-key daytime" events such as markets or fetes, where stallholders could sell drinks to enjoy on the grounds or take home.
What the church says
St Mary's communication officer Cameron Conant told the Waltham Forest Echo: "All alcohol is served responsibly at St Mary's and can involve, for example, something as simple as a local choir selling glasses of wine to those attending a concert in order raise additional funds or in order to meet the costs of putting on the event itself."
Over the past 12 months the church has hosted two live recordings of BBC Radio 4's Gardeners' Question Time, Christmas performances by the Norrsang Swedish choir, the East London Brass Band, a screening of Chris Packham's climate film People's Emergency Briefing, several Forest Choir concerts, a craft fair, and a screening of the Walthamstow documentary Power Station followed by a discussion with the filmmakers.
"We have no plans to drastically exceed 15 events per year with alcohol – in fact, residents will see virtually no change in our programming – we simply would like flexibility which we currently do not have but which this licensing change would allow for," Cameron said.
"Running a bar at certain events allows us to raise much needed funds – and allows other local organisations to raise much-needed money."
Neighbours' concerns
St Mary's has a history of sticking to the council's temporary event notices, but the plans have raised concerns among some neighbours.
A resident of the neighbouring Monoux Almshouses said the potential frequency of events could "reduce our privacy [and] peace of mind".
"The music/noise of such a gathering will penetrate our homes at Monoux Almshouses, which are direct neighbours to St Mary's Church," she said. She suggested the council grant a licence for weekends only.
Waltham Forest's licensing team has proposed six conditions to reduce the risk of public nuisance and disorder. They include keeping a refusals book to record every time a customer is refused alcohol, and making sure all staff selling drinks are trained on preventing underage sales and on refusing drunk customers.
Who decides
The application will go before the council's licensing committee, made up of three elected councillors, on Friday 11 September.
