Martin Dunlop– Blairquhan Castle, Straiton Occasional Licence Application – 28th to 30th April, 5th & 6th May, 21st & 22nd July 2019 Report by Licensing Standards Officer I refer to the Occasional Licence applications made for a variety of dates for the purpose og a Group Residential Stay in the public rooms and grounds of Blairquhan Castle at Straiton. Each application is for a group of around 40 adults who will be staying at the Castle over a two day period at a time. The reason for the applications and indeed for the later hour is due to a residential stay for guests of William Grants distillery in Girvan who are visiting the new Gin Palace based at the Girvan factory. I understand that in each case the group may be touring Ayrshire during their stay and may be later to return on some of the evenings and whilst the staff at Blairquhan do not anticipate the full use of the hours on all both evenings, they want to have the option to do so if required. The terminal hour of 1am is not able to be granted under delegated powers and thus the application has to be considered at a Licensing Board meeting. Members will be aware of the pattern of Occasional Licences which have been applied for by this venue over the past few years and indeed that there have already been 3 Occasional Licences granted by this Board for similar events in 2019. Considering the above and the rural location of the venue I do not believe the grant of this licence would be contrary to any of the licensing objectives and am not aware of any complaints in relation to the premises as a result of licensed events. Catrina Andrew Licensing Standards Officer 18th February 2019 27 .