A Hove restaurant boss has been told that he cannot serve food and drinks later at night – in part because he failed to take steps to tackle drug-dealing at the premises.
A Brighton and Hove City Council licensing panel said that it did not have confidence in Emad Abdolkhani, 33, to manage Persia, in Church Road, Hove, during its current trading hours – let alone later.
Mr Abdolkhani applied for a variation to his existing licence to stay open and serve late-night refreshment until midnight every night.
He also wanted to be able to serve alcohol later than at present – until 11.30pm seven nights a week.
He currently has a licence to serve alcohol until 10.30pm from Monday to Saturday and until 10pm on a Sunday, with the premises expected to close 30 minutes afterwards.
The licensing panel members were concerned that no action was taken after police found high readings for cocaine and MDMA (also known as ecstasy) during visits in August and October.
At the panel hearing on Thursday 1 December, Mr Abdolkhani said that he was waiting to hear from the police before making any changes to prevent drug use in the premises’ toilets.
But the police said that they had emailed Mr Abdolkhani’s agent on Tuesday 25 October about how to deal with flat surfaces so that they could not be used for taking drugs.
The panel sent a decision letter that said: “The panel considers that the application was not properly thought through and that many of the applicant’s responses to questions were confusing and unhelpful.
“It does not have confidence in the applicant and his ability to manage the existing premises, let alone premises with an increased capacity and longer operating hours.
“The police evidence of non-compliance with licence conditions at the time of their first visit in August 2022 was not disputed.
“Although most of the conditions were rectified by the time of their second visit, the drug issue had not been addressed.
“Most worryingly, despite agreement with the applicant’s agent in October about works to be carried out, nothing had been done by the date of the hearing.
“And the applicant appeared to be blaming the police by stating that they had not informed him of what needed to be done despite evidence to the contrary provided by the police.
“Co-operation between premises licence holders and responsible authorities is essential if the drug issue is to be resolved.”
The licensing panel was made up of three members – Councillors Chris Henry, Jackie O’Quinn and Dee Simson.
