A pizza takeaway owner was told that high levels of anti-social behaviour in the centre of Brighton are the reason why police and council officials do not want him to trade after 11pm.
Mohammed Sufiyan Patni, 36, of Square Pizza, in Pool Valley, told a panel of three councillors that he saw nearby businesses trading after 11pm and wanted to do the same.
Brighton and Hove City Council’s licensing policy generally rules out any new late-night takeaways in the centre of Brighton because the area is already saturated with similar businesses.
The policy is intended to encourage people to leave the area after a night out rather than congregate outside takeaways.
Mr Patni amended his initial application, having hoped to stay open until 3am.
His revised application sought a late-night refreshment licence to allow the business to offer a delivery service until 1am on Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings.
At a council licensing panel hearing today (Tuesday 17 March), Sussex Police licensing officer Claire Abdelkader said that Pool Valley and East Street were a focus of the night-time and weekend policing operation known as Op Marble.
She said: “East Street and the surrounding area has been designated by Sussex Police as an area of hotspot policing due to high levels of crime, disorder, anti-social behaviour and other incidents, evidenced in the real risk to the licensing objectives in this area.
“It regularly features as a patrol area in Operation Marble.”
Mrs Abdelkader added that Mr Patni, who applied for the licence under his business name Southcoast Biriyani Limited, had not consultated the force.
She would have expected him to do so as a business applying for a licence which was contrary to licensing policy.
Mr Patni told the panel of three councillors – Julie Cattell, Ivan Lyons and Ollie Sykes – that he had worked with Sussex Police and the council’s licensing team since applying for the late licence.
He said: “I listened carefully to the concerns raised by Sussex Police and the licensing authority and I changed my application to reduce any possible impact.
“From 11pm, the shop will be closed to the public and operate only as a delivery kitchen so there will be no customers waiting outside.
“I want to operate a small well-managed business that fully respects the licensing objectives and the local area.”
The panel retired to make its decision which should be made public within five working days.
