Friday August 29th 2025
Balgone Estate, East Lothian
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Marie Sharp
Health chiefs have come under fire after objecting to a rural cafe being allowed to serve alcohol by claiming it was in an area of high harm.
Agents representing the Herd Cafe, on the Balgone Estate more than a mile from the outskirts of North Berwick, said the NHS objection appeared to simply ‘copy and paste’ the venue’s name on a ‘generic’ complaint.
However health bosses have hit back insisting they treat every licence application individually.
Concerns were raised over the objection as the cafe operators applied for an alcohol licence to allow them to host events at the new premises around the year.
A meeting of East Lothian Licensing Board heard the estate, which has a long established reputation for rural events including a sunflower festival and pumpkin patch, hopes to promote local produce form the farm and beyond with events including ‘steak nights’.
The board’s licensing standards officer confirmed the cafe was in a ‘rural location’ outside the nearest town of North Berwick adding “there are no other licensed premises within an 800 metres radius of it.”
Despite this NHS Lothian Public Health objected to the application saying it was inconsistent with one or more of the board’s licensing objectives adding “we believe the application is located within an area we have identified as having higher levels of alcohol related harm”.
Niall Hassard, representing the Herd Cafe, described the NHS objection as ‘disappointing’ saying it offered ‘nothing specific’ to the application itself for them to address.
He said: “Each application has to be taken on its own merits and there needs to be some effort to draw a nexus between the objection and the application.
“Quite simply in the NHS objection there is nothing at all, apart from a copy and paste of the name of the applicant, that explains why this would exacerbate things or have a negative impact.”
He urged the board to focus instead on the positives of the 1000-acre farm and its efforts to diversify and host community events.
Board member Councillor Fiona Dugdale also raised concern about the NHS objection.
She said: “I was concerned when I read the submission from NHS Lothian that it felt a very general response talking about the harm alcohol can cause.
“I would be asking that we ask NHS Lothian to provide some more detailed reports in future in relation to the application.”
The board unanimously approved the premises licence for the Herd Cafe, which received no public objections.
Board’s legal adviser Carlos Grilli said licensing would write to NHS Lothian asking for more engagement to “see if we can get a more detailed, focused type of response from them, particularly noting this application”.
Ashley Goodfellow, Deputy Director of Public Health & Health Policy, NHS Lothian, said: “Excessive alcohol consumption is linked to serious physical and mental health issues. There is good evidence that when alcohol is more readily available, people buy and drink more, resulting in an increase in harm. It also increases the exposure that children and young people have to alcohol.
“We do not issue blanket objections to licensing applications and each case is individually assessed using data and postcodes. This particular application is within a wider area which has been identified as having higher levels of alcohol related harm.”
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