A specialist whisky supplier who wants a licence to serve drinks to customers at his Brighton shop faces opposition residents.
Sebastian Woolf has been converting the old Trafalgar Wines off-licence, in Trafalgar Street, Brighton, into whisky retailer Cut Your Wolf Loose.
But neighbours said that they already have to put up with people urinating and vomiting in their doorways, late-night noise and fights.
And any more places where people can drink on the premises would only add to the anti-social and criminal behaviour.
Mr Woolf applied to Brighton and Hove City Council to vary the current licence to allow drinking on the premises in addition to the existing “off-sales”.
He said that he had no plans to sell draft beer, lager or cider but this has failed to win over people living in the surrounding North Laine area.
Next Monday (18 May) a council licensing panel will hear more details about the application and objections before deciding whether to allow the change.
But only last week the council’s Planning Committee turned down a planning application by Mr Woolf’s company Woolf Sung for a “change of use”.
They were concerned that converting the premises from a conventional shop to one where people could drink on the premises risked turning it into a pub “by stealth”.
Green councillor Lizzie Deane, who represents St Peter’s and North Laine ward, opposed both the licence and planning applications.
She said: “Trafalgar Street is at the heart of the city’s ‘cumulative impact zone’ where there is already an overabundance of licensed premises causing crime, disorder, noise and disturbance to local residents.”
The council has a policy of restricting new licences in the cumulative impact zone which covers a significant part of the commercial heart of Brighton and Hove.
The North Laine Community Association said that the area was “saturated” with 78 licensed premises – 14 of them in Trafalgar Street.
The association said: “Since the introduction of flexible opening hours in 2003, residents have had to put up with increased levels of noise from drinkers during the day and night, leading to increased levels of anti-social behaviour and vandalism.
“We also believe that, by granting this variation, it would result in the premises becoming a pub, adding to the cumulative impact.”
This shop should be kept for off-sales not turned into a bar….
I used to live above The magazine shop next to trafalgar wines and I honestly think this is a good idea provided strict noise conditions are put in place. I like a good whisk(e)y and any person who drinks good whisk(e)y knows that 1) its quite expensive and 2) it’s to be sipped and enjoyed over a long duration. Turning the space into a specialist whiskey shop is not going to result in loud, boisterous loutish behaviour in the same way a regular bar would based purely on the two facts stated above.