A vape shop in the centre of Brighton will not be allowed to sell alcohol, the council said.
V&M Store owner Satpal Singh, 42, applied to Brighton and Hove City Council for a drinks licence but a panel of councillors was told that he had “drug paraphernalia” on display at the shop, at 62 North Street.
As a result, Sussex Police and council licensing officials objected to his application to sell alcohol from 10am to 10pm daily.
At a licensing panel hearing, councillors were told that the “bongs” were on display for only 30 days because of customer demand and had since been removed.
Sussex Police and the council licensing team told the panel of three councillors – Ivan Lyons, David McGregor and Sam Parrott – that the business did not give an exceptional reason to have a licence.
Council policy is not to approve new off-licences without exceptional circumstances because the centre of Brighton is saturated with businesses selling alcohol.
The police told the panel that there were 30 off-licences in the area – four in North Street, 18 in Queen’s Road and eight along Western Road.
Mr Singh’s representative Oisin Daly, of Absolutely Licensing Solutions, said that the business had obtained specialist software to check the age and intoxication levels of customers.
Mr Daly said that these stricter measures and a design to ensure all alcohol was kept behind the counter, out of the public’s reach, were exceptional enough to allow a licence to be granted.
He also offered to end drink sales earlier than in the original application – at 9pm – to reduce any overlap with Brighton’s night-time economy.
The council licensing panel said that it appreciated the restrictions that Mr Singh had proposed and the challenging economic situation facing the business, with the government planning to introduce a tax on vapes and licensing.
In a decision letter, the council said: “The panel shares the concerns of the police and licensing authority and does not consider that exceptional circumstances have been shown to depart from the policy.
“A further outlet selling alcohol in this location is likely to add to issues already existing in the area and undermine the licensing objectives and the conditions offered will not fully mitigate the risk.”
Close them down before they come back with another piss poor excuse for a booze permit, these type of traders should be evaluated before they can apply for any shop permit, not feasible then no trading permit, too many of them in too many locations and too many depending on booze permits to survive, close them down, would still be plenty of booze available at too many other shops.