A St Helens Council sub-licensing committee met on Monday, July 6, at the town hall to consider a premises licence application for Empire, located at 13–19 Westfield Street. Chris Kenny, principal operations officer for licensing at St Helens Borough Council, raised serious concerns about Mr Beddow’s application to the committee. Mr Kenny said Mr Beddow had requested a meeting to discuss his application, which took place on April 16. Meanwhile, St Helens Council's Environmental Health team also objected to the application on public safety grounds. She said Mr Beddow failed to provide evidence that the electrical inspection was carried out by a competent person.