A kebab shop owner’s bid to overturn a decision to stopping him opening around the clock was delayed today after magistrates said they needed 28 hours to read all his evidence.
Bahaaeldin Abdelalim, submitted almost 1,700 pages of evidence and arguments for his appeals against Brighton and Hove City Council’s refusal of his three bids to extend Station Grill’s opening hours.
Chair of the bench John Stanbridge said if they took a minute to read each page, it would take 28 hours – but they had only been given the bundle 90 minutes before.
Despite Mr Abdelalim’s pleas to hear the case today anyway, the case was adjourned until 2 February, before district judge Amanda Kelly.
The court heard the council is also submitted a bundle of about 300 pages – 100 pages for each of the three appeals Mr Abdelalim has lodged.
Mr Abdelalim said: “They have restricted my movement. They don’t want me to apply until the court has made a decision. It’s affecting me because I can’t pay the rent.”
Mr Stanbridge said: “You are giving a narrative about your frustration with the council and their tactics or policies, but that’s not for now.”
Mr Abdelalim said: “I’m waiting for more than a year so it’s very hard for me to wait another six months.”
He first applied for a late night refreshment licence to extend the Queens Road kebab shop’s standard 11pm closure to 3am just in September 2024 and it was refused by a licensing panel which cited his lack of experience.
He applied again in April this year, and was refused in June.
Days later, he applied for a third time, this time to be able to open around the clock, and was refused again in August, with the panel citing the fact he appeared to not understand how the licensing system works.
They also expressed concern he had submitted a photograph of the closed kebab shop purporting to be taken by an anonymous source one Saturday at about 11.30pm, when Sussex Police said it they had observed it open without a licence.
But it was established the picture had actually been taken by the Local Democracy Reporting Service at 2pm on a Sunday afternoon.
He would be better spent gaining some experience of working in other venues that are allowed to stay open late which would then support his application for his own premises to stay open as well as on how the licensing system works – both previously given as reasons to reject his applications.
I wonder how much experience his lawyer has in licensing matters. More documents doesn’t always strengthen your case