South Shields hotel gets licence to serve alcohol up to 2am

The Sea Hotel at the bottom of Oacean Road, South Shields, was recently bought in a £1million deal by High Street Hospitality.

Planned alterations to its restaurant and bar will include an outside seating section and a dedicated wedding venue inside.

As part of the changeover, Hotel 52 (Sea) Ltd lodged the new licence bid, which was given the final go ahead this week.

It includes permission to sell alcohol to the public between 11am and 2am, and 24-hour alcohol sales for customers staying at the hotel.

All other licensed activities - including live and recorded music and late night refreshment - were also granted between 11am and 2.30am.

Earlier this year, HSH, which is part of the Newcastle-based High Street Group of companies, confirmed plans to invest a further £750,000 in improvements.

These include revamping rooms, reception areas, the restaurant and function rooms, with works expected to be completed in early next year.

Other plans include a Latin American Restaurant,  Bar 52 Sports Bar, live music and dance classes, a fish and chip takeaway and a coffee outlet.

As part of the new licence, hotel owners have also agreed to several conditions around events and alcohol sales.

This includes CCTV, employing door staff when needed, a ‘challenge 25’ policy for customers and a refusal register.

One condition requires all events at the hotel to be documented with details of the type of event, organiser, proposed numbers attending and contact details.

While another states 24-hour access to alcohol will only be provided to “residents of the sea lodge and sea hotel and their bona fide guests.”

The three-storey hotel, in Sea Road, was built in the 1930s and was put on the market for £1.6million in November last year.

It currently boasts 37 bedrooms and has a car park  held under a long-term council lease with a £300 per year ground rent.

The hotel refurb also comes amid South Tyneside Council’s ongoing multimillion-pound 365 regeneration initiative in South Shields town centre.

Its principal initiatives include The Word library, a cinema and a new transport interchange.

High Street Hospitality were unavailable for comment when contacted.

Chris Binding , Local Democracy Reporting Service