A Hove shop owner’s application for a licence to sell alcohol until 5am each day has been turned down by the council.
Joseph Pdeen is opening a convenience store called Harvest, in Church Road, Hove, and applied for a drinks licence for the hours of 8am to 5am daily.
He already runs three similar stores in other parts of Brighton and Hove but his latest store is in an area where the council has tougher licensing rules.
Neighbours objected to the application and it went before a Brighton and Hove City Council licensing panel two weeks ago on Thursday 8 June.
Hove resident Yasemin Keskin spoke on behalf of neighbours concerned about the increasing availability of alcohol in the area and worried about street drinkers late at night.
But the premises already has a “late-night refreshment” licence to sell food, hot drinks and soft drinks from 11pm to 5am and previously operated as the GFC Kebab House.
Mr Pdeen told the panel that he would surrender this valuable licence if he could sell alcohol into the early hours.
He agreed to restrictions proposed by Sussex Police such as limiting alcohol to no more than 15 per cent of the products on sale.
Other proposed conditions had included not selling “super-strength” beer or cider – 5.5 per cent ABV (alcohol by volume) or more – and no spirit bottles smaller than 70cl.
The licensing panel consisted of three councillors – Andrei Czolak, Paul Nann and Kerry Pickett. They were concerned about the area’s relatively high levels of crime, disorder and public nuisance.
In a decision letter, the panel said: “The applicant is clearly an experienced operator but has not got direct experience of running an off-licence until 5am in a challenging area.
“The panel appreciates that there are unusual, even exceptional, circumstances in this case … but remain concerned about the extended hours for the sale of alcohol.
“Upon questioning, the applicant was not willing to reduce these as well as surrender the other licence and this was of concern and a disappointment to the panel.”
Mr Pdeen has 21 days to appeal against the decision.
The kebab house was closed down as being well dodgy.
There are a number of services located near Church Road that work with clients who struggle with alcohol dependency. Reducing the opportunities for temptation, or rather preventing more opportunities, to me, seems like the morally correct thing to do.
And I still maintain my standpoint, one that I’ve yet to hear an articulate argument, that there is no point where one needs to buy alcohol at 5am. Alcohol, academically, has more health and social issues directly related to it than smoking, yet has far fewer restrictions. That’s a big P issue, but it’s one that I think should remain constant in the panel’s decision-making.