Brighton restaurant banned from selling drinks during Pride

A Brighton restaurant has been banned from selling alcoholic drinks during Pride after breaking its licence conditions last year.

Ali Algun, who owns Yelken, in St James’s Street, had pleaded with councillors for a “yellow card” at a licence review hearing last month.

He faced the prospect of having his drinks licence suspended or revoked after police saw customers standing around and drinking and tables loaded with alcoholic shots during the Pride weekend.

The hearing was told that the conditions of Yelken’s licence restricted the sale of alcohol to people seated at tables and having a meal.

Mr Algun said that his customers were eating sandwiches but police told the Brighton and Hove City Council licensing panel hearing, held on Monday 12 December, that this was untrue.

Sussex Police licensing officer Hannah Staplehurst said that the police checked on Yelken during the series of routine visits to all businesses in St James’s Street on Sunday 7 August.

During the visit Ms Staplehurst said that Mr Algun had refused to engage with her – or to remove the tables of alcohol.

She told the licensing panel, made up of three councillors – Zoe John, Clare Moonan and Dee Simson – that the force had “no confidence” in Mr Algun because, as Yelken’s licence holder, he “failed to engage” with officers on three occasions.

Yelken’s solicitor Nathaniel Gadsby said that Mr Algun had completed a higher-level licensing qualification after Sussex Police requested the licence review.

Mr Gadsby, of TV Edwards Solicitors, said that there was no suggestion that the breaches had resulted in crime, disorder, a risk to public safety or harm to children.

The panel said, in its decision letter, that Yelken was not the worst case that it had seen and the business was not considered a “problem premises”.

It agreed to put Mr Algun “on notice” – and said that any future breaches would result in him losing his licence.

The panel banned the sale of alcohol at the venue on three days this coming August – from Friday 4 August to Sunday 6 August – this year’s Pride weekend.

The panel said: “We are satisfied that Yelken cannot fairly be characterised as a problem premises.

“There is no evidence that until (Sunday) 7 August 2022, the premises were operating other than as a restaurant.

“They had not warranted any intervention by the police or licensing authority. The serious breaches appear to have been triggered by a lack of understanding of the licensing regime on an isolated occasion.”