Hartlepool football club wins permission to hold outdoor events featuring live music

Representatives from FC Hartlepool had submitted a licensing application to host the events at their home at Grayfields Sports Pavilion, in Jesmond Gardens.

The club were seeking permission to up to four times a year play live and recorded music outdoors between noon and 10pm, while also selling alcohol.

The application had to go before a meeting of Hartlepool Borough Council’s licensing sub-committee due to one resident raising concerns that the plans would be “detrimental to the area”.

Representatives from FC Hartlepool outlined how the organisation is run as a charity to benefit the local area, with income from the pavilion bar and the proposed event to be used to subsidise playing fees for players.

After retiring to consider the verdict, councillors on the committee agreed to grant the licence in its entirety.

Club chiefs said they intend to use the licence to hold a family friendly outdoor music festival featuring activities for children each year, with potential future events including outdoor cinema screenings.

Terry Hill, trustee for FC Hartlepool, said: “The ethos of our entire organisation is geared up towards greater opportunities and providing positive influences on the young people.

“Another key area of our charity is to enhance the area and the local community and we work hard to ensure that all our activities are planned and managed effectively.”

He added they are a “family club with a family feel” and want to make the festival something “the town will be proud of”.

FC Hartlepool run “around 30 teams” from under 7s to adults, along with sessions for younger children, and they expect to have over 500 playing members by September.

The club had worked closely with the council’s environmental health team and police over the application.

Club representatives insist they will have security and trained staff in place as well as entry checks and policies such as Challenge 25.

The venue previously held an outdoor event in July 2022 after gaining one-off permission and no complaints were received by the council.

The licence will also give the applicants permission to sell alcohol and play recorded and live music indoors at their clubhouse all year round during specified hours, along with showing films.