A coffee shop can serve alcoholic drinks after the owner addressed objections to his application at a Brighton and Hove City Council licensing panel.
Botanist Coffee Co director Simon Duddington, 39, told a panel of three councillors that he wanted to offer spritzers and gin and tonics until 10pm to customers enjoying a summer evening.
The venue, in Church Road, Hove, on the corner of Wilbury Road, was previously occupied by the Small Batch Coffee Company which had a licence but it lapsed.
At the licensing panel hearing on Tuesday 9 July, the councillors were told that there were plans for low-key acoustic music events with noise at an “ambient” level.
The licensing panel decided the application because a neighbour lodged an objection although the anonymous objector did not turn up for the hearing.
The business is in an area where the council has a policy of restricting the grant of new licences for pubs and off-licences because of crime levels.
But it has fewer restrictions for cafés where customers can buy food as well as alcohol.
The three members of the panel were Labour councillors John Hewitt, David McGregor and Alison Thomson.
In a letter granting the licence, the council said: “The panel has considered this application on its merits.
“It welcomes the applicant’s active engagement with the police and environmental health, the agreed conditions and the removal of off-sales (from the application).
“The agreed conditions should ensure that the operation of the premises will not add to problems in the vicinity.”
