The prospect of a 5am Wimpy burger and chips in the centre of Brighton didn’t go down too well with the police, licensing officials or neighbours.
The Wimpy in West Street applied for a late-night refreshment licence until 5am each morning – and its owner Charlie Bhangal, 44, made the case for staying open so late to a council licensing panel.
Although he has not applied for a licence to sell alcohol, businesses need a late-night refreshment licence to sell food and drink – even soft drink – after 11pm.
And Brighton and Hove City Council licensing policy does not tend to allow new late-night takeaways in the busy heart of Brighton, other than in exceptional circumstances, because the area is already saturated with late-night businesses.
The council licensing panel was told that West Street already had three outlets with 5am late-night licences – and those been had been in place since 2005, with no other new licences granted since then.
Sussex Police licensing officer Hannah Staplehurst told the panel that, in the past year, there had been 2,151 recorded incidents and crimes linked with West Street and surrounding roads.
At a hearing last Thursday (2 July), she said that the figure included 300 violent crimes, 503 thefts and 125 reports of anti-social behaviour.
Ms Staplehurst said: “Committing a premises to be open into the night-time economy is likely to increase incidents in this locality.”
She said that West Street was already busy and had many licensed premises including pubs, off-licences and late-night refreshment venues.
She added that, even though Mr Bhangal did not apply for a drinks licence, food on sale into the early hours would encourage people under the influence of alcohol to gather or stay in the area.
The panel of three councillors – John Hewitt, Ivan Lyons and Sam Parrott – were told that Mr Bhangal’s application did not include any information about late-night security and that he had not consulted Sussex Police.
Ms Staplehurst asked the panel to refuse the application to allow Mr Bhangal to work with the force on an application that complied with local licensing policy.
A council licensing official, Sarah Cornell, said that the application had not offered conditions which would “adequately address” the “heightened expectations” for a fast-food business in the centre of Brighton.
Mr Bhangal that said the original plan was to serve from a hatch but, having received feedback, he was planning on keeping a quarter of the restaurant open for people ordering.
And despite not mentioning security in his licence application, he told the panel that there would be security on site.
He said: “I understand there are a number of venues there and I don’t believe people will congregate there as much as there will be reduced movement, looking for food on the side streets.
“I believe, from the position we’re in, it’s literally they’ll come out of the club, out of the bar, get some food and head to the train station.”
Mr Bhangal, the director of a company called SPH Capital Limited, said that he would be open to reducing the hours.
Asked about his experience, Mr Bhangal said that he had owned four Wimpy restaurants around Sussex for 21 years.
They were, he said, usually open until 10pm – and he previously had an American-theme restaurant which opened until 1am.
Three neighbours also objected to the application although they did not attend the hearing. In their written submissions, they raised concerns about late-night noise from extractor fans.
Mr Bhangal said that he would commission an acoustic survey to ensure the extractor was not affecting neighbours.
The panel retired to make its decision which should be made public within five working days.
