A family business has been given the green light to sell alcohol with food as they will only offer beers and wine from Argentina.
Sussex Police raised concerns about crime in the St James’s Street area of Brighton, where the second branch of Argentinian café Malo opened on Thursday, 25 July.
In a compromise move, the owners and Argentinian and Italian family – Jorge Pautasso, 56, Adriana Torrembo, 58, Mariel Pautasso, 29, and Borja Pautasso, 22 – agreed during a hearing to limit off sales to orders worth more than £10 in line with their Duke Street branch.
The family who submitted the licence application has run Malo in Duke Street since 2021, and has a restaurant, the Baqueano steak house, in Western Road, Brighton.
At the Duke Street branch customers can also take away Argentinian wines and beers with an order worth more than £10.
During the Brighton and Hove City Council licensing panel hearing on Wednesday 24 July Sussex Police licensing officer Claire Abdulkader said that St James’s Street had a dedicated police presence because it was an area of concern.
Ms Abdulkader said that there were 1,670 recorded incidents, including 691 crimes, within a 160-metre radius over the past year.
The top three types of crime were violence (228 crimes or 33 per cent), theft (206 crimes or 30 per cent) and public order (96 crimes or 14 per cent).
In their decision, the panel of three councillors – Lucy Helliwell, Ivan Lyons and Alison Thomson – agreed the owner’s decision to limit alcohol options to Argentinian products was an exceptional circumstance to allow a licence.
They said: “This is the type of premises recognised in our policy as unlikely to add to cumulative impact and thus capable of constituting an exception to policy.
“It is also a specialist style of operation serving almost exclusively Argentinian food and drink.
“The panel consider that with further conditions to bring it in line with a restaurant-style premises it is not likely to add to problems in the area and is pleased that the applicants are agreeable to these.”
Malo in St James’s Street, Brighton can serve alcohol from noon to 9pm to customers buying food who are served by waiting staff at tables.
The alcohol will be limited to beers and wines only, with no cocktails available.
