An off licence is applying to serve booze in Kemp Town until 4am – with just a two hour break before opening again at 6am.
Tipple, which hopes to open at 30 St James’s Street, is facing stiff opposition from residents, who fear it will worsen existing street drinking problems in the area.
The lively Kemp Town street is part of the city centre’s cumulative impact area, where new alcohol licence applications are subject to stricter controls because of the number of existing licensed premises.
But when Tesco application to sell licence at its St James’s Street store was turned down by Brighton and Hove City Council, it was later allowed by Brighton Magistrates’ Court.
Chairman of the St James’s local action team Chris Cooke said: “Do we really need one more off licence in St.James’s?
“I would say absolutely NOT, and I know that I speak for many in the area. We’ll be discussing this at [tonight’s] LAT meeting, and I am really keen to see what “teeth” the police and the licensing panel do indeed have when a shop such as this wants to open in a supposedly more regulated zone the Council terms a cumulative impact area.
“From current city-wide evidence, I’m not exactly hopeful of a favourable outcome, but maybe it is now time to curb these off-licences on every corner.”
