Police have objected to a proposed 2am closing time for a new restaurant and takeaway because of high levels of violent crime late at night at weekends.
Pepe’s Piri Piri franchisee Faisal Jamil, 27, wants to operate his new business, on the ground floor of Ravilious House, at 56 Lewes Road, Brighton, until 2am from next month when the restaurant and takeaway is due to open.
But the police said that Lewes Road is in an area covered by Brighton and Hove City Council policy restrictions on late-night refreshment licences.
And the restrictions were brought in because of high crime levels and the volume of late-night food businesses in the area.
Sussex Police and the council licensing team both objected to the application at a council licensing panel hearing today (Tuesday 18 March)
Mr Jamil, a co-director of Jamil Enterprise Limited, which will operate the franchise, has not applied for a drinks licence but does require a late-night refreshment licence to sell food and soft drinks after 11pm.
Police licensing officer Claire Abdelkader said that 629 crimes were recorded within a half-mile radius of the shop over the past year. Of those, a third were violent crimes.
She said: “There was a peak between midnight and 1am from Thursday to Sunday where the occurrences were double what we saw in the same time period Monday to Wednesday.
“At the weekends, including Friday night to the early hours of Monday, the percentage of violaence against the person rose from 31 per cent to 40 per cent, so a third more than during the week.
“This provides real evidence of a risk of crime and disorder, particularly against persons in this area.”
Ms Abdelkader said that the police had concerns about another late-night venue starting up in the area which was already “saturated” with similar businesses.
Council licensing officer Sarah Cornell also objected to the application because it was against policy to allow a new late-night restaurant and takeaway to open in the area unless the business could show exceptional circumstances.
Mr Jamil told the panel that five staff were already Security Industry Authority (SIA) trained and he was planning to take the qualification himself to ensure the business is secure from 11pm.
He said: “Our staff is training weekly to monitor customer behaviour, monitoring outside the shop and doing regular litter patrols, cleaning the vicinity.
“It’s a brand new building Ravilious House. We’re on good terms with our landlord.
“We want to look after his building, our community, our neighbours. We’re fully committed to co-operating with Sussex Police and the council. Whatever conditions are imposed, we will uphold.”
In the face of the objections, he suggested a compromise of a 1am closing time but said that he still wanted to able to make deliveries until 2am.
Sussex Police said that it wanted the doors closed to customers at midnight.
Deliveries would be carried out by the business’s own drivers and cyclists, he said, and they would work in the restaurant when they were not delivering.
Delivery drivers would be using the loading bays by the Lewes Road Inn to avoid disturbing people in the flats above the restaurant and to comply with the red route.
Pepe’s representative, Gulraiz Siddique, 53, director of Architecture and Interior Design Limited, said that the 10-year-old business had 206 outlets nationally and 15 internationally, with 132 open late, up to 4am.
The panel of three Labour councillors – Julie Cattell, John Hewitt and Alison Thomson – retired to make their decision which should be made public within five working days.
If I was a student paying £340/week for my luxury accommodation maybe having people coming from the pub and mopeds delivering food at 2 AM just below my window might not be ideal
Or maybe as a student living there you want to have the opportunity to nip downstairs and grab hot wings after a late nite session of…. Studying??
Police licensing officer Claire Abdelkader said that 629 crimes were recorded within a half-mile radius of the shop over the past year. Of those, a third were violent crimes…
Gosh! All this in a ‘student area’ who would have thought it…Certainly gives the road tone indeed although Mark Fry would no doubt claim that this is all the fault of people over 61.
No it’s the smack heads, usually in their 40’s. Visit co op for the next showing
What qualifications do Sussex Police hold in urban planning? Why do we want the input of the police about whether we can get takeaway chicken or not? If you oppose this development, you’ve obviously never eaten a Pepe’s! Scrap the right to object to planning/licencing unless you live strictly within 100m of the development, save the high street!