Fried chicken shop’s application for late licence rejected

A fried chicken shop owner has been told that he cannot trade until 5am even though he said that there was enough demand from customers.

Muhammad Shahzad, who runs Chicken Club, at 72 Western Road, Brighton, applied for a late-night refreshment licence after he was found trading in the early hours of Monday 8 August.

He was caught as police carried out licensing checks over the Pride weekend – and they ordered staff to close the premises.

Businesses need a late-night refreshment licence to sell food and drink after 11pm in Brighton and Hove but Mr Shahzad said that he did not know this.

So he subsequently submitted a licence application – but Chicken Club is in an area that has been designated a “cumulative impact zone” (CIZ) by Brighton and Hove City Council.

The area is “saturated” with licensed premises and subject to tougher licensing rules to try to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour linked to alcohol.

A council licensing panel consisting of three councillors – Dee Simson, Kate Knight and Clare Moonan – considered Mr Shahzad’s application for a late-night refreshment licence at a hearing on Monday 9 January.

The panel turned down the application and wrote to Mr Shahzad, suggesting that he seek advice from Sussex Police and the council’s licensing team before submitting another application for later hours.

The decision letter said: “The panel agreed that the application was unsatisfactory in that no consideration was given to the location of the premises within the CIZ and no clear conditions offered.

“When questioned about the policy and exceptional circumstances, the responses given – though open and honest – gave the impression that the applicant did not sufficiently understand the nature of the licensing regime or the importance of conditions and local policy.

“There was insufficient assurance given about how to manage potential incidents and (arising from the police visit) a lack of appreciation of the general risk to children and the need to protect them from harm in the night-time economy even without selling alcohol.”

When officers found the business operating outside its licenced hours, PC Vincent Lam said that three 16-year-old boys were eating there after midnight and he arranged to escort them home.

Mr Shahzad said that Chicken Club was his first food business and he told the panel that there was more demand after 11pm.

He said that other businesses in the area sold hot food until 5am. But the panel was also told that existing licences pre-dated the council’s current more restrictive licensing policy.

In the future, he said that he planned to extend the restaurant kitchen and offer traditional Asian food, saying that when he visited Brighton from London, he felt there weren’t enough options.