A new Hove pizza restaurant has been granted a late licence for deliveries only, with a closing time earlier than the owners wanted.
Perfect Pizza Place Ltd originally applied for a late-night refreshment licence for Hove Pizza Plaice, at 162 Portland Road, Hove, trading from 11am to 4am daily.
At a Brighton and Hove City Council licensing panel hearing on Friday 1 August, the business owners Sankar Sengottian, 43, and Moham Palanisamy, 37, offered a 2am closing time, with deliveries only after 11pm.
The licence does not include the sale of alcohol.
The council’s licensing policy generally limits late-night takeaways to a midnight closing time outside the busy central area.
Sussex Police objected to the application, saying that another outlet offering food and soft drinks late into the night would encourage people who may be drunk to stay in the area.
Licensing officer Hannah Staplehurst said that in the past year there were 283 crimes in a quarter-mile stretch of Portland Road and the roads off of it – and 73 of those were violent crimes.
Council environmental protection officer Chinwe Ihemefor said that the team also objected to the application because late-night cooking would generate noise, particularly the extraction system.
She said that in February the council had received a complaint about “non-stop noise” from machines and equipment causing the walls to vibrate.
A warning letter was sent to the business, requiring evidence that the ventilation system was adequate and well-maintained.
Mr Sengottian said that they had installed dampeners and were cleaning the extractor fan weekly.
The takeaway’s application was decided by a licensing panel made up of three Labour councillors – John Hewitt, Sam Parrott and David McGregor.
The panel decided that the business could trade from until 2am on a Saturday and Saturday morning, with an earlier closing time of midnight for the rest of the week.
The decision letter from the council said: “The panel considers that the applicants demonstrated a willingness to minimise noise and deal with the extraction fan and oven.
“They had met the requirements of the responsible authority in terms of the police and were willing to agree to the additional condition of joining the Brighton Crime Reduction Partnership.
“The panel is therefore willing to permit a departure from (policy) for Friday and Saturday.
“The panel considers it is justified in imposing earlier closing times during the week given the nature of the area and the potential for public nuisance and this is in line with the statement of licensing policy.
“The panel considers that the robust set of conditions agreed with the police and some of those from environmental protection will promote the licensing objectives.”
It seems that whenever someone applies for a late licence or change of licence the police quote crime statistics for the area, without giving context or relating the statistics to the business question.
Perhaps if the police got out of the police station and did some proactive policing crime would go down. A prime example of this was the police office at Hove Town Hall. From there, a small team of police officers and PCSO’s went out on foot around Hove, a welcome visible presence and crime deterrent. Earlier in the year the office was closed and the team disbanded. Hardly a shining example of local policing is it.
“Plaice”?? Fishy Pizza (yuk)
This place will do pizza and fish & chips