A Real Tonic (and Gin) For Moulsham St.

May we offer our heartiest congratulations to the owners of the Only Way Is Gin who have been granted a premises license for the former Pause Cafe in Moulsham St.

In Thursday’s hearing (which quite a lot of you watched online) , Matt Bell representing The Only Way Is Gin presented a strong case for the business to be granted a premises license.

This was in stark contrast to the “evidence” presented by the objectors (and neighbours) the Chelmsford Muslim Society.

Twenty seven objections had been sent in by users of the mosque, but were largely based on religious and moral grounds and irrelevant to the license application. The mosque secretary also detailed allegations of anti social behavior, hate crimes , vandalism and Islamophobia in the area around the mosque. However there are no crime reports for these incidents nor did Essex Police submit any form of comment or objection.

The objectors also had concerns for the safety of the children and the elderly using the mosque, but this was not supported by any objections from Childrens Safeguarding Services or the Public Protection Team.

Councillor Pooley spoke on behalf of the ward councillors but contributed little of value to the hearing. As expected he simply repeated the same unsubstantiated evidence that the objectors had used.

Subject to planning permission the Gin School, distillery and bar should open in early September.