A central Brighton takeaway that hoped to stay open until 3am for a week has been told that it can’t.
Station Grill’s new owner Abadeer Ewyda, 44, sent a temporary event notice (TEN) to Brighton and Hove City Council, seeking to open to eat-in and takeaway customers until 3am from Thursday 23 April to Wednesday 29 April. But Sussex Police objected to the proposal.
Currently, the business – at 62 Queen’s Road in Brighton – can operate until 11pm and would require a late-night refreshment licence to stay open later.
The council has refused three earlier applications for a late-night refreshment licence that were submitted by the previous business owner Bahaaeldin Abdelalim, 43.
In February, Mr Abdelalim lost an appeal against the council’s decision at Brighton Magistrates’ Court and had to pay £6,000 towards the council’s costs.
On Monday (13 April) the council held a licensing panel to decide whether Station Grill could stay open later for the week in question.
A report published before the licensing panel hearing said that the council’s policy was for a temporary event notice to apply to “bona fide community events” – and other applications to extend hours for business premises were not encouraged.
The objection from Sussex Police said that the extended hours were just for “a random week in April”.
Mr Ewyda emailed police licensing officer Hannah Staplehurst, whose details were redacted in the exchange, to state that the extension was linked to a Brighton and Hove Albion home game on Sunday 26 April. The date of the match has since changed.
But in an exchange with Ms Staplehurst, he tried to change the date to three days around Tuesday 21 April, when the game – an evening match – is now scheduled.
At the hearing, Ms Staplehurst said that Sussex Police had concerns about this application because of a lack of information, lack of evidence and lack of reason for the application.
She said that the force also had a lack of confidence in the applicant and that area had high levels of crime and disorder.
Ms Staplehurst said: “From reading the event details, there is no event as such. This reads as being an additional revenue opportunity during a random week in April.”
In the previous year, within a few hundred yards of the business, police were called to deal with 264 crimes.
Of these, 72 involved violence and 25 involved public disorder. Nine were sexual offences and there were 135 thefts in this area.
Mr Ewyda said that the government’s form online was confusing – even for him, with a computer engineering background, and he missed information.
Regarding his application, he said: “It’s just an event. Everybody is happy. I just want to stay open a little bit longer.
“There’s a takeaway right next door to me. He’s got a late licence. He’s never had issues. He’s always been there. They have a late licence every day. I’m not increasing any issues in the area.”
He said that he would be taking noise off the street by bringing people into the restaurant – and that food reduced the reaction to alcohol.
The panel of three councillors – Samer Bagaeen, Julie Cattell and Ollie Sykes – issued a counter-notice, preventing the premises from staying open later than its current hours.
The council’s decision letter said: “The panel was very concerned that there was on the part of the applicant a lack of interest or knowledge about the licensing context.
“The applicant stated he had been spending time in the area and regarded it as safe. He had not seen anything of concern to him.
“He seemed to doubt the crime statistics based on what he has seen and felt instead that the act of opening late would reduce crime as people could use food to address their inebriation … The absence of mitigating factors was noted.”
“The council’s decision letter said: “The panel was very concerned that there was on the part of the applicant a lack of interest or knowledge about the licensing context.”
Which is exactly the situation with the previous owner!
What is it about this particular premises that leads to its owners failing to fully engage with the licensing process?
I feel whenever these applications fail, there is a common thread of not listening to the advice given, and being dismissive of the concerns raised. Just as a businessman, that’s poor acumen.