Neighbours and community leaders shared their concerns about street drinking and crime as an application for a drinks licence by a specialist Romanian store was heard by a council licensing panel.
Dracula’s House, in London Road, Brighton, applied for a licence to sell alcohol from 8am to 9pm Monday to Saturday and from 9am to 6pm on Sundays.
Thirteen neighbours objected to the application, as did Green councillor Sue Shanks, who represents Westhill and North Laine ward.
The owners, Ionut Cimpoesu, 27, and Ioana Cimpoesu, 24, offered licence conditions that would restrict alcoholic drinks to Romanian products only – and to no more than 5 per cent of the products on sale.
All alcoholic drinks for sale would be behind the counter in the premises which used to be the Eastern Eye restaurant and was once a Pizza Hut.
Before the Brighton and Hove City Council licensing panel hearing, the couple agreed draft conditions with Sussex Police, including a condition that there would be no advertising and no small bottles of spirits.
Councillor Shanks said that London Road was an area that was already saturated with off-licences and the council’s policy was to refuse any new applications.
The new Co-op, on the corner of Oxford Street, was the last business to be granted permission to operate with an off-licence. This was because it replaced the previous much larger Co-op store.
But in August 2020, the Co-op was refused a licence to sell alcohol from a proposed new shop at 65-67 London Road, which was previously the Maplin electronics store.
Almost two years later, in April 2022, another nearby shop, R&A Global Store, at 17 Preston Road, was refused a licence for its specialist African and Caribbean business.
Councillor Shanks said: “Residents and I are concerned about the amount of alcohol available in London Road.
“Obviously, it may not all be bought along London Road, but we do have a problem with anti-social behaviour, late-night drinking, drug use, etc.
“I was looking at their website and it sounds like it’s a really good thing to have Romanian food and things like that but we just feel there is no need for extra alcohol.”
Providence Place resident Ashok Lenkala said that there were already several off-licences in the area, ranging from Aldi and the Co-op to smaller businesses such as the AM/PM store and Smokemart.
Mr Lenkala said that he had lived in the area for 13 years and found that, at weekends, the area was plagued by street drinkers leaving beer cans and glass bottles everywhere.
He said: “On Friday night and Saturday night, I’ve seen so many people urinating on our street. It’s unimaginable.
“I’m not sure if the council is deliberately doing this to drive the families away from here. Maybe the council doesn’t want families to live here because all I can see are students.
“I don’t have a problem with them but students and alcohol – what do you expect?”
Mr Lenkala said that he liked the cakes on sale at the shop but did not want alcohol there.
London Road Local Action Team (LAT) chair Philip Wells said that the group, which represents businesses and residents in the area, had asked the council to stick to its policy of having no more off-licences in the area.
Mr Wells said: “I would ask the panel to consider what sort of precedent they are setting and what sort of exceptions they are looking for.
“It seems to me that simply being well run does not constitute an exception. All off-licences ought to be well-run.”
He was concerned that the shop’s sign already included the line “off licence” even though it did not yet have a licence.
Black and Minority Ethnic Community Partnership trustee Chandrakant Mehta asked whether other shops in Brighton and Hove sold Romanian alcohol.
Mr and Mrs Cimpoesu said that they started their business in Horsham with a shop run by Mrs Cimpoesu’s parents and were initially unaware that applying for a licence in London Road would be more complex.
Their focus is on groceries and Romanian bread and cakes. Both have extensive experience working for licensed businesses.
Mrs Cimpoesu said: “We’re open to working with the council and residents. We don’t want to see teenagers outside our store or any store or on the street paying adults to go and buy them alcohol.”
She blamed anti-social behaviour on cheap alcohol which, she said, would not be on offer at the shop.
Mr Cimpoesu said that their cheapest wine would cost around £7.50 a bottle because it was being imported from Romania.
The three councillors who made up the panel – Julie Cattell, John Hewitt and Kerry Pickett – retired to make their decision which should be made public within five working days.
Does the owner appear during daylight hours?
I think Councillor Shanks has the crux of it here, policy here pretty much dictates a refusal, and there’s not a strong argument why the licensing board should deviate from policy.
They got the licence then. Looks like a brewery behind their counter.