Concerns about crime, particularly during football matches and Pride, led police to object to an application by a new food outlet to stay open until 3am in the centre of Brighton.
Sussex Police and Brighton and Hove City Council objected to London Export and Import Limited’s application to operate after 11pm from Station Grill, a new business at 62 Queen’s Road.
The business, owned by Brighton-based Bahaaeldin Abdelalim, 42, is described in the application as a restaurant and burger shop offering counter service for both eat-in and takeaway customers.
Previously, the site has been known as Lottie’s Coffee Shop, Café @62, Wellbean and Sue’s Snacks.
Mr Abdelalim wants a late-night refreshment licence to sell food, soft drinks and hot drinks from 11pm to 2am on a Monday to Friday morning and from 11pm to 3am on a Saturday and Sunday morning. The restaurant would open at 8am daily.
The council’s licensing policy presumes against granting a licence for new late-night takeaways in busy central areas and limits later hours to midnight in other parts of Brighton and Hove, unless operators can show exceptional circumstances.
In a letter objecting to the application, Inspector Daniel Eagle, from Sussex Police, said that during discussions Mr Abdelalim demonstrated no knowledge of the council’s licensing policies and appeared unaware of crime and disorder problems in Queen’s Road.
Inspector Eagle said that 271 violent crimes and thefts were recorded in Queen’s Road in the past year along with a further 11 sexual assaults.
He said: “With the area already experiencing a high number of incidents which occur throughout the day and night, permitting a premises to be open into the night-time economy is likely to increase incidents in the locality, which is already a busy thoroughfare road to and from the city centre and the train station and is populated with many licensed premises all varying from pubs, off-licences and late-night refreshment venues.”
Ten proposed conditions were put forward by Sussex Police but, according to Inspector Eagle, Mr Abdelalim did not agree to three of them.
These were
- To employ licenced door staff at times identified by the licence holder’s risk assessment or as requested by Sussex Police at least 48 hours in advance. Risk assessments should take into account busy periods such as bank holidays, football, Pride and music events.
- Whenever the premises is open, the management will have contract with a mobile support unit with at least two door supervisors working from it, with the unit accredited to the Brighton Crime Reduction Partnership.
- The business will become a member of the Brighton Crime Reduction Partnership or a similar scheme approved by the licensing authority.
The council’s licensing team said in its objection that it was not clear whether the venue planned to offer takeaways and deliveries after midnight or just deliveries.
Senior council licensing officer Sarah Cornell said in a letter that the council’s planning department had said that the premises did not have planning permission to operate as a takeaway and should operate as a restaurant.
Mr Abdelalim agreed to fit a closed-circuit television (CCTV) system covering all entrances and customer areas.
He agreed to a draft condition proposed by the police to restrict sales after midnight to deliveries only to registered residential or business addresses and not to public or communal areas or open spaces.
Staff would also be trained in conflict management.
A council licensing panel is due to decide the application on Friday 15 November. The hearing is scheduled to start at 10am and to be webcast on the council’s website.
